Eucalyptus gomphocephala
Tuart | |
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Eucalyptus gomphocephala in Kings Park, Perth | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Myrtales |
Family: | Myrtaceae |
Genus: | Eucalyptus |
Species: | E. gomphocephala
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Binomial name | |
Eucalyptus gomphocephala | |
Field range | |
Synonyms[3] | |
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Eucalyptus gomphocephala, known as tuart,[4] is a species of tree and is one of the six forest giants of Southwest Australia.
The trees usually grow to a height of 10 to 40 m (33 to 131 ft) and mostly have a single stem, but can have multiple stems under some conditions. The
Tuarts were first formally described by the
The distribution range of tuart is along a narrow coastal corridor within the
Description
The tree is native to the southwest of
Tuart has rough,
Juvenile leaves are attached to the stem via a stalk and always have an
The tree flowers between January and April and tends to have a mass flowering event every five to eight years with smaller intermittent flowering events for the years in between.
The fruits are narrow and 1.0 to 2.5 cm (0.39 to 0.98 in) in length with a broad rim and 1.2 to 1.8 cm (0.47 to 0.71 in) wide.[11][9] The fruits are attached to the stem via 0 to 0.8 cm (0.00 to 0.31 in) long pedicel. The fruits have an obconic to upside-down bell shape and sometimes have two longitudinal ridges that extend from the pedicel partly along the length. The fruits have a level disc that can be slightly raised or descending and have three to five valves that are partly protruding or exserted.[9]
The seeds are usually released within a year.
Taxonomy and naming
The species was formally described by the
The isotype collected by Leschenault is held at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.[14]
In 1939, William Blakely and Henry Steedman described two varieties of this species in Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium, but the names are listed as synonyms by the Australian Plant Census.[3] The epithet gomphocephala is derived from gomphos, meaning 'club', and kephale, 'head',[16] describing the rounded and overlapping shape of the operculum.[17][11]
The species is allied as a monophyletic arrangement within the most diverse eucalypt subgenus, Eucalyptus subgen. Symphyomyrtus, recognised as the sole species of its section.[16]
The Noongar peoples named the tree tuart or tooart, moorun, mouarn or duart.[18][12]
The tree is sometimes referred to as white gum and is the origin for the name of the
Distribution
The distribution range of the species is a narrow coastal corridor within the
Tuarts have been introduced into parts of Europe, specifically in Spain and Italy including Sicily. The species has also been introduced into several countries in Africa, including Algeria, the Cape Provinces of South Africa, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and the Canary Islands.[21] The tree has become naturalised in parts of southern Africa.[22]
E. gomphocephala grows in sandy well drained soils, often over limestone,[4] in sunny positions.[6]
The trees are part of coastal shrubland ecosystems in areas of deep sand. They also will often be part of limited woodland communities in protected areas along the coast.[7] Tuarts are associated with the Quindalup and Spearwood sand dune systems, both of which have calcareous soils.[20] When they occur in woodland or open forest they are often associated with peppermint trees (Agonis flexuosa) in the understorey.[23]
Uses
As a durable
The heartwood is a pale yellow-brown colour with a fine texture and a highly interlocked grain, close and twisted, almost curled back.[23][15] The green wood has a density of 1,250 kilograms per cubic metre (78 lb/cu ft) and an air-dried density of 1,030 kilograms per cubic metre (64 lb/cu ft).[23]
The flowers are an excellent source for the production of honey.[6] The colour of the product is described as light and creamy and it candies quickly to become hard and dry if properly matured in the hive. In 1939, tuart was noted as a high quality source, although it was determined to be an "undependable source" thirty years later.[15]
The oils all had some degree of antimicrobial activity, with the essential oil collected from the leaves generally having higher antimicrobial activity than those collected from the fruit.[26]
Ecology
Tuarts are regarded as one of the six forest giants found in Western Australia; the other trees are Corymbia calophylla (marri), Eucalyptus diversicolor (karri), Eucalyptus jacksonii (red tingle), Eucalyptus marginata (jarrah) and Eucalyptus patens (yarri).[6][27] The informal definition of a giant tree is that it must be significantly larger than other species and exceed 100 m3 (3,500 cu ft) in volume.[28]
The tree is moderately tolerant of saline soil and salt-laden winds. It is also drought and frost tolerant.[6] Individual trees may live over four hundred years.[15]
Experimental cultivation in the 1930s of the species identified that it was able to grow in areas of low rainfall, as little as 13 inches (330 mm) per annum. Tuarts were introduced to France and grown extensively there by the end of the nineteenth century.[15]
The biodiversity of tuart forest is rich, containing unique assemblages of plants, fungi and animals. A 2009 survey of
Tuart gives its name to a description of an
Tuart forest persisted in situ through the
Destructors
The insect Thaumastocoris peregrinus (bronze bug) is native to the east coast of Australia. The sap-sucking pest has infested non-native Eucalyptus plantations, including E. gomphocephala, in Southern Africa and Europe. Severe infestations of the pest cause leaf loss, leaf senescence, thinning of the canopy and in some cases branch dieback.[33]
Phoracantha recurva (eucalyptus longhorned borer) is another problem pest that can affect newly felled trees or sickly trees found within the native range. It will also attack living trees in areas where it has been introduced, particularly in plantations. It is especially problematic in areas that have a water deficit, where loss of trees in Eucalyptus plantations (particularly Eucalyptus recurva) is often experienced during drought.[34]
Tuart normally release seed gradually and the seeds are open to predation by ants, meaning the soil seed bank is kept low. Following events such as fire the seeds will be released all at once, this overwhelms the rate of predation and the temporarily increase the soil seed bank.[12]
The species is vulnerable to dieback associated with fungal species of the genus Phytophthora. A study in 2007 of infected or dead tuart trees and woodland identified isolates of Phytophthora cinnamomi, already implicated in the decline of tuart. Another organism Phytophthora multivora, previously identified as Phytophthora citricola complex, was also found and identified.[35] Damage to reproductive processes by a native predator was first noticed at the end of the nineteenth century. Larvae deposited in flowers by the tuart bud weevil Haplonyx tibialis (Curculionidae) feed on the tissue in the operculum, the female weevil having caused the budding flower to become partly or completely damaged after laying a single egg; the larvae eventually emerge by chewing through the base of the bud.[16]
Pollinators
Despite no studies having been specifically conducted on E gomphocephala, other studies indicate that Eucalypts such as
Natural history
The extent and maturity of tuart forest and woodland was greatly reduced after colonisation. When Charles Fraser viewed tuart trees during a preliminary exploration toward Guildford he remarked on their "stupendous" size.[15] In 1843 James Drummond recorded specimens that were 9 to 13 m (30 to 43 ft) in circumference at a forest north of Busselton.[15][36]
The Swan River Colony's first sawmill was established in 1833, amongst tuart forest at the foot of Mount Eliza in Kings Park.[37] Some of the timber was used by Henry Trigg for construction of the new government's infrastructure; Trigg describes the "Tewart" wood's desirable qualities - durable, yet workable - as similar to white gum [eucalypt] and the lignum vitae of the South American genus Guaiacum. The four ton cogwheels at the Old Mill, Perth were hewn from this wood. The utility of the timber was remarked on by George Fletcher Moore, the 1830s colonial diarist. The value to industries such as shipbuilding was derived from its resistance to splitting and splintering.[38] The
The species was surveyed in 1882 by Surveyor General Malcolm Fraser,[41] his map showing them occurring at an area measuring 130,000 ha (320,000 acres). They were well known to the settlers of the Swan River Colony; the first road from the port to the capital passed through what they named as Claremont Tuart Forest. The first state conservator of forest, John Ednie Brown, reported the remaining extent of tuart forest as 81,000 ha (200,000 acres) in 1895, and was impressed by straight trunked specimens to 50 m (160 ft) high and 7 m (23 ft) circumference, while conceding the density and condition of them prior to his survey were not known to him. The 1903-04 Royal Commission on Forestry, hearing evidence from sawmiller and government member
When a political means of conserving forest was enacted in 1918, the state conservator
At the beginning of the twenty first century most of the tuart forest had been felled or cleared. Prior to European settlement the tuart forests occupied an area of 125,400 ha (310,000 acres) and they now cover an area of 17,000 ha (42,000 acres). What remained was recognised as declining in diversity and health of this tree and the assemblages of associated plants, animals and fungi.[20]
It was listed as
Gallery
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Kings park
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Bark on trunk
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Los Angeles County Arboretum, Arcadia, California
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The Wonnerup Giant, the largest tuart
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The Shedded Giant, the largest girthed tuart
See also
- Tuart Hill, Western Australia
- Tuart spider orchid(Caladenia georgei)
References
- Footnotes
- ^ . Retrieved 20 November 2023.
- ^ Candolle, A.P. de (ed.). Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis. Vol. 3. Paris: Sumptibus Sociorum Treuttel et Würtz. p. 220.
- ^ a b "Eucalyptus gomphocephala". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
- ^ Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ISBN 978-0-646-80613-6.
- ^ a b c d e f "Eucalyptus gomphocephala". Australian Seed. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Eucalyptus gomphocephala Tuart" (PDF). Cambridge Coast Care. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
- doi:10.1071/BT16091.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Eucalyptus gomphocephala Tuart". Euclid. CSIRO. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
- ^ a b c Andre Messina (9 August 2016). "Eucalyptus gomphocephala DC". Flora of Victoria. Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f "Tuart Identification" (PDF). Trigg Bushland Organisation. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Ruthrof, K.X.; Yates, C.J.; Loneragan, W.A. B. J. Keighery (ed.). "The biology of tuart". Tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) and Tuart Communities. Murdoch University. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
- ^ "Eucalyptus gomphocephala". APNI. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
- ^ doi:10.15468/ly60bx. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9585562-0-0.
- ^ a b c Ruthrof, K. X., Yates, C. J., & Loneragan, W. A. (2002). The biology of tuart. In: B. J. Keighhery, V. M. Longman, & W. A. Nedlands (Eds.), Tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) and Tuart Communities (pp. 108–122). A Perth Branch Wildflower Society of Western Australia.
- ISBN 1-875560-43-2.
- ^ "Noongar names for plants". kippleonline.net. Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
- ^ a b "Tuart Tree Stand at Jurien Cemetery". inHerit. Heritage Council of Western Australia. 1 January 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Tuart Woodlands and Forests of the Swan Coastal Plain: A Nationally Significant Ecological Community" (PDF). Department of the Environment and Energy. 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- ^ "Eucalyptus gomphocephala A.Cunn. ex DC". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
- ^ "Species naturalised in southern Africa". biodiversity explorer. Iziko South African Museum. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
- ^ a b c "Tuart Eucalyptus gomphocephala". Forest Products Commission. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
- ^ "Eucalyptus gomphocephala Tuart". Benara Nurseries. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
- ^ "Eucalyptus gomphocephala - A.Cunn. ex DC". Plants For A Future. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
- ^ S2CID 219411543. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
- ^ "Eucalyptus gomphocephala". Plants For A Future. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
- ^ Russell Du Guesclin. "Western Australia Giant Trees". Retrieved 16 December 2023.
- PMID 19070663.
- ^ a b "Tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) woodlands and forests of the swan coastal plain ecological community draft conservation advice including draft listing advice". Department of the Environment and Energy. October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
- ^ "Nominations: Tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) woodlands and forests of the Swan Coastal Plain ecological community". Department of the Environment and Energy. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
- ISBN 978-1-74258-564-2
- . Retrieved 28 April 2023.
- . Retrieved 29 April 2023.
- PMID 20198133.
- ^ a b "Experience the Ludlow Tuart Forest" (PDF). Busselton-Dunsborough Environmental Centre. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- ^ Greg Heberle (1991). "Timber harvesting on Crown Land in the south west of Western Australia" (PDF). Department of Conservation and Land Management. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- ^ Moore, George Fletcher (1884). Diary of Ten Years Eventful Life of an Early Settler in Western Australia, and also A Descriptive Vocabulary of the Language of the Aborigines. First published by M. Walbrook, London. Facsimile edition published in 1978 by University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia
- ^ Maiden, J. H. (1889). The useful native plants of Australia. Vol. 1889. Turner and Henderson. pp. 459–62.
- .
- ^ a b David Ward. "Trouble in the Tuart" (PDF). Department of Conservation and Land Management. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- Bibliography
- Bryant, Geoff (2005) Australian Native Plants Random House ISBN 978-1-74166-030-2
- Johnston, Judith (1993) The History of the Tuart Forest - pp. 136–153 in de Garis, B.K. (editor) Portraits of the South West: Aborigines, Women and the Environment Nedlands, W.A. University of Western Australia Press ISBN 1-875560-12-2
External links
- Tuart Response Group (W.A.) (2003) An Atlas of Tuart woodlands on the Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia Perth, W. Aust.:Dept. of Conservation and Land Management (coordinated by a multi-disciplinary steering group chaired by the Department of Conservation and Land Management"