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Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden
Myrtaceae
Flooded gum
Source: James A. Duke. 1983. Handbook of Energy Crops. unpublished.
- Uses
- Folk Medicine
- Chemistry
- Description
- Germplasm
- Distribution
- Ecology
- Cultivation
- Harvesting
- Yields and Economics
- Energy
- Biotic Factors
- Chemical Analysis of Biomass Fuels
- References
This is a rather widely planted ornamental shade tree, also useful as a honey
plant. The pale red timber is softer and lighter than that of many eucalypts.
Easily worked, the wood is extensively used for medium-quality joinery in
offices and hotels. They are good for crafts, and older trees, for telephone
poles. It is occasionally used for veneer.
No data available.
The bark and kino contain tannins (Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962).
Evergreen tree 40–60 m high with a tall straight trunk and 1–2 m in diameter.
Crown spreading and thin in open; small and compressed in dense plantations.
Bark white, gray or green, smooth, shedding in long narrow strips. Leaves
alternate, lanceolate, 10–20 cm long, 2–4 cm wide, acuminate, inaequilateral,
wavy, glabrous. Umbels single at leaf base, 2.5–3 cm long with flattened stalk
of 12 mm. Flowers 5–12, short-stalked or stalkless. Buds pyriform, 10 mm
long, 5 mm wide. Stamens many, threadlike, white, anthers oblong with large
round gland. Pistil with inferior 4–6-celled ovary. Capsules several,
short-stalked, pyriform or conical, 8 mm long, 6 mm wide (Little, 1983).
Reported from the Australian Center of Diversity, flooded gum, or cvs thereof,
is reported to tolerate frost, heat, and poor soil. Adapted to a rather wide
range of soil types, the species is relatively free of disease but somewhat
frost tender. The tree grown in Africa and Brazil, possibly a hybrid with
E. saligna, is superior to wild types in yield and bole straightness
(NAS, 1980a).
Ranging spottily from 17°S to 30°S in Australia, the plant is widely
planted. It is so important in Brazil that it is said to be planted at the
rate of 100,000 ha/yr. Mariani et al. (1981) mention its cultivation in
Angola, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cuba, Ghana, Indonesia, Papua, Peru, Sri
Lanka, and Zimbabwe.
Seedlings of E. grandis are more resistant to waterlogging than those of
E. robusta, which are more resistant than those of E. saligna.
Estimated to range from Tropical Thorn to Moist through Warm Temperate
Thorn to Moist Forest Life Zones, flooded gum is reported to tolerate annual
precipitation of (6.0-)7.0 to 17.3(-25) dm (mean of 3 cases = 11.8), annual
temperature of 18.8 to 27.5°C (mean of 3 cases = 23.2), and pH of 5.0 to 7.5
(mean of 2 cases = 6.2). Grows where summer temperatures reach 40°C, winter
minima -1 to -3°C. While tolerating gradual temperature falls to frost,
sudden freezing is very damaging. Does best where the rain is mostly in
summer/fall with a spring dry period. Does well in moist, well-drained soils
from shales, slates, sandstones, even granites and basalts. Seems to tolerate
poor soils with low P content.
Since weeds severely limit growth, mechanical or chemical site preparation is
essential if rapid rates of growth are to be achieved and maintained." (NAS,
1980a). The plant is sensitive to boron deficiency. Fertilizer applied at the
time of planting can have a spectacular effect. Seedlings 2–5 months old are
outplanted, best at the beginning of the wet season, spaced at 2 x 2 m to 5 x 5
m (NAS, 1980a).
Usual rotations in Kenya are 6 years for domestic fuelwood, 10–12 years for
industrial fuelwood, 7–8 years for telephone poles. Forests are commonly
regenerated by coppice from stumps, sprouting within 3 months, then thinned to
2–3 shoots per stump.
In Kenya, the initial crop averages ca 30 m3/ha/yr over the first 6
years, the coppice crop closer to 46 m3/ha/yr over the same period.
Irrigated stands in Zimbabwe yield; 40 m3, good stands in Uganda
17–45, and up to 35 m3/ha in S. Africa. At Dehra Dun the MAI was 22
m3/ha (Fenton et al., 1977). Webb et al. (1980) report yields of
24–70 m3/ha/yr.
According to the phytomass files (Duke, 1981b), annual productivity ranges to
22 MT/ha in California. Introduced into E. Africa as railroad fuel early this
century, flooded gum provides a lightweight (sp. grav. 0.40–0.55) fuelwood. In
New South Wales, total biomass increases with age to 394 MT at 27 yrs. old,
with foliage biomass increasing gradually to 6.2 MT. Though variable,
understory biomass increased through recruitment to 42 MT at 27–yrs-old, the
stick and bark component having reached a steady state 7 MT at age 15, the leaf
component rather steady around 2, the humus content stabilizing at 17–18
(Bradstock, 1981). The Sri Lanka apellation turpentine-gas certainly suggests
energy implications. Although this species produces more wood than Acacia
mearnsii, it is inferior to that species for fuel and charcoal (Duke,
1981a). Eucalyptus scored lower than Melaleuca on yield (ca 6 MT/ha/yr cf 28
MT/ha/yr) and nothing had as high a heating value as the bark of Melaleuca
(>25,000 kj/kg). The bark of Eucalyptus grandis has a relatively low
heat value (14,683 kj/kg), perhaps due to a plethora of inorganic
noncombustibles in the bark. The average ash content is 10.1%. The stem wood
had a heat value of 19,213 kj/kg.
In Brazil, the fungus Diaportha cubensis attacks the flooded gum.
Termites may be a problem in savanna plantations. Root rot is a serious
problem (Fungi) in Zambia. Browne (1968) lists the following as affecting this
species: Cylindrocladium scoparium, Daldinia concentrica. (Coleoptera)
Anomala cupripes, Automolus depressus, Phoracantha recurva, P. semipunctata,
Triphocaris acanthocera, T. mastersi. (Hemiptera) Cardiaspina fiscella,
C. maniformis. (Isoptera) Macrotermes natalensis.
(Lepidoptera) Neocleora herbuloti, Nola lugens, Xyleutes boisduvali.
(Mammalia) Trichosurus vulpecula.
Analysing 62 kinds of biomass for heating value, Jenkins and Ebeling (1985)
reported a spread of 19.35 to 18.15 MJ/kg, compared to 13.76 for weathered rice
straw to 23.28 MJ/kg for prune pits. On a % DM basis, the wh. plant contained
82.55% volatiles, 0.52% ash, 16.93% fixed carbon, 48.33% C, 5.89% H, 45.13% O,
0,15% N, 0.01% S, 0.08% Cl, and undetermined residue.
- Bradstock, R. 1981. Biomass in an age series of Eucalyptus grandis
plantations. Australian For. Res. 11(2):111–127.
- Browne, F.G. 1968. Pests and diseases of forest plantations trees. Clarendon
Press, Oxford.
- Duke, J.A. 1981a. Handbook of legumes of world economic importance. Plenum
Press. NewYork.
- Duke, J.A. 1981b. The gene revolution. Paper 1. p. 89–150. In: Office of
Technology Assessment, Background papers for innovative biological technologies
for lesser developed countries. USGPO. Washington.
- Fenton, R., Roper, R.E., and Watt, G.R. 1977. Lowland tropical hardwoods.
External Aid Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Wellington, N.Z.
- Jenkins, B.M. and Ebeling, J.M. 1985. Thermochemical properties of biomass
fuels. Calif. Agric. 39(5/6):14–16.
- Little, E.L. Jr. 1983. Common fuelwood crops: a handbook for their
identification. McClain Printing Co., Parsons, WV.
- Mariani, E.O., Mariani, C.E., and Lipinsky, S.B. 1981. Tropical eucalyptus. p.
373–386. In: McClure, T.A. and Lipinsky, E.S. (eds.), CRC handbook of biosolar
resources, vol. II. Resource materials. CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL.
- N.A.S. 1980a. Firewood crops. Shrub and tree species for energy production.
National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.
- Watt, J.M. and Breyer-Brandwijk, M.G. 1962. The medicinal and poisonous plants
of southern and eastern Africa. 2nd ed. E.&S. Livingstone, Ltd., Edinburgh
and London.
- Webb, D.E., Wood, P.J., and Smith, J. 1980. A guide to species selection for
tropical and sub-tropical plantations. Tropical Forestry Papers 15. CFI, Oxford.
Complete list of references for Duke, Handbook of Energy Crops
Last update Tuesday, January 6, 1998 by aw