Eucalyptus alba (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Eucalyptus alba Reinw. ex Blume
- Protologue: Bijdr. fl. Ned. Ind. 17: 1101 (1827).
Synonyms
- Eucalyptus leucadendron Reinw. ex de Vriese (1856).
Vernacular names
- Poplar gum, khaki gum (En)
- Indonesia: ampupu
- Vietnam: bạch dàn trắng.
Distribution
Timor, Papua New Guinea and widespread in northern
Australia. Planted elsewhere in Malesia and mainland South-East Asia.
Uses
The wood is used for heavy-duty construction, as mine timber, for boat building, furniture, handles, sporting goods, agricultural implements, joinery, railway sleepers, poles and carvings but also often for fuelwood. The bark contains a high percentage of tannin.
Observations
- A small to medium-sized deciduous tree of up to 26 m tall, bole often of poor form, up to 60 cm in diameter, bark smooth, with pink-red to whitish patches.
- Juvenile leaves alternate, ovate to suborbicular, green, discolorous, adult leaves alternate, narrow to broadly lanceolate or ovate, 7-21 cm × 2-5 cm, acuminate, green, concolourous, petiole 10-33 mm long.
- Inflorescence axillary, solitary, 7-flowered.
- Flower buds globular to ovoid, operculum hemispherical, 3-5 mm × 4-7 mm.
- Fruit hemispherical to obconical, 4-7 mm × 5-8 mm, with 3 or 4 exserted valves.
E. alba grows on flat and undulating country, often near the coast or near watercourses, on heavy soil in woodland and open forest from sea-level to 700 m altitude. The density of the wood is 900-1010 kg/m3 at 12% moisture content. See also the table on wood properties.
Selected sources
52, 62, 63a, 64, 232, 322a, 343, 359, 540, 659.
Main genus page
Authors
- C.C.H. Jongkind (selection of species)
