Giant eucalyptus
| Giant eucalyptus | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Giant eucalyptus ( Eucalyptus regnans ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Eucalyptus regnans | ||||||||||||
| F. Garbage. |
The giant eucalyptus ( Eucalyptus regnans ), also known as king eucalyptus , is a species of eucalyptus ( Eucalyptus ) within the myrtle family (Myrtaceae). It is native to Australia .
description
The giant eucalyptus grows as an evergreen tree that can reach an age of around 400 years. The giant eucalyptus is extremely fast-growing; in preferred locations it can reach heights of 65 meters in 50 years. It is considered the tallest deciduous tree in the world, possibly even the tallest tree at all. A specimen felled in 1872 was 132 meters high. The highest currently living specimen "Centurion", standing in Tasmania , is "only" 99.6 meters high and thus significantly smaller than several more than 110 meters high specimens of the coastal redwood ( Sequoia sempervirens ) in California , and still smaller than a 2018 Yellow Meranti tree on Borneo , measured to a height of 100.8 m , which is currently the highest known living deciduous tree.
The giant eucalyptus forms a narrow treetop on a straight trunk. The bark is gray and roughly furrowed at the lowest 5 to 15 meters, above it rather smooth.
The leaves are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The petiole is reddish. The simple green to gray-green leaf blade is 9 to 14 centimeters long and 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters wide and lanceolate to sickle-shaped and ends in a pronounced tip. The leaf margin is smooth.
The 9 to 15 flowers sit together in an inflorescence. The hermaphrodite flower is radially symmetrical with a diameter of about 1 centimeter. The capsule fruits are 5 to 9 millimeters long and 4 to 7 millimeters wide.
Occurrence
The home of the giant eucalyptus is in southeastern Australia in the state of Victoria and on the island of Tasmania . It grows there in cooler regions with a high annual rainfall of over 1200 mm. Its occurrences range at altitudes of up to 1000 meters.
use
The giant eucalyptus is largely grown for forestry; the stocks of remaining jungle areas with old giant trees are noticeably dwindling due to deforestation. The wood of the giant eucalyptus is used, among other things, for paper production.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ MVS Import: Biggest trees discovered at extreme heights . In: scinexx | The knowledge magazine . May 31, 2017 ( scinexx.de [accessed February 18, 2019]).
- ↑ Well-tempered giants. Retrieved February 18, 2019 .
- ^ Daniel Lingenhöhl: Giant discovered on Borneo . Spektrum.de , April 18, 2019.
- ↑ Barbara Barkhausen: Australia: 67 days to photograph a tree . February 1, 2017 ( welt.de [accessed February 18, 2019]).