EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS |
| The paper which follows was submitted to the Third World Consultation on Forest Tree Breeding in Canberra in March 1977 and will appear in the Consultation proceedings. It is reproduced here because of the importance of the subject. |
| A survey carried out during the current revision of the book “Eucalypts for Planting” has indicated that the world area of E. globulus now planted considerably exceeds the estimate of 400 000 ha in the paper. The actual area is probably over 800 000 ha, of which half is in the Iberian peninsula. This makes it the most widely planted single species, although the area is exceeded by the combined total of E. grandis/E. saligna, two species which have often been confused in plantations. |
| As stated in the paper, no large-scale provenance trials have been established in the past. This may have been because (a) initial introductions were of good form and rapid growth (b) the relatively restricted geographic range of the species, in companion with, say, E. camaldulensis, suggested that little intra-specific variation occurred in the species. The present paper indicates that considerably more variation occurs than was previously thought. Countries with large commercial plantations should consider the benefits to be derived from new provenance trials, if only to demonstrate that their local “land-race” really is the best. For particular sites it may well be that the original introductions of typical E. globulus ssp. globulus from S.E. Tasmania may be less well adapted than other provenances or subspecies from Tasmania or mainland Australia. |
| The organizers of the new Australian trials described in the paper have kindly agreed that research quantities of seed (10 g of seed or enough for approximately 1 000 seedlings per provenance) can be made available to other interested countries when available. Requests should be directed to: |
The Forestry Commission P.O. Box 415 - E Launoeston 7250 Tasmania Australia |
