With Love For The Eucalypt - Fulfilled

Welcome Friend or Visitor,

I have been slow in fulfilling my February dedication to one particular Eucalypt I have a deep and abiding emotional attachment to.

But,

With this Post, if I'm successful, Part 3 and 4, meant to be distributed over the final 2weeks of this February will all be squeezed into this presentation...

Will be interesting to see what will result.

Before you proceed, or after you have done perusing this final contribution for this one particular Eucalypt, you may like to visit -> Part 1 <- and -> Part 2 <- if you have not already done the Journey. Then again, this one time may feel is quite enough.

Whichever, I do hope you will enjoy the photos and information you find here. 

         I'll begin with photos which continue from where I ended in Part 2... 11 Nov 2011, after 5pm, with the Sun's Light strong as it steadily closes another day so night can begin.... and don't forget the elegant slide-show way....

         From way above Eucalypt to it's deep Earthly anchorage....

 

         I mentioned in Eucalypt's previous post I had a go travelling round the visible base with a measuring tape. The result gave me an estimated base girth for this Eucalpt as being 12 to 15 feet/3.6 to 4.5 metres. A solid deep connection with Earth from which to extend its Branches high and wide.

         On the bottom right of the photo above you can begin to see a bulge or gnarl protruding. That bulge or gnarl is significant, which the next sourced photo will show....

Australian National Botanic Gardens
Aboriginal Uses of Native Plants
http://www.anbg.gov.au/aborig.s.e.aust/eucalyptus-species.html

         Those gnarled round growths on the trunk were used by the Kulin People in southern Victoria Australia to make bowls called 'tarnuks' to carry water. Some also had rope handles.

         The URL with the image, though not active here, is worth a visit to learn more about the relationship between the Eucalypt and Australia's Aboriginal People.

         The following URL, non-active, but is a link to the Museum of Victoria in Australia. Titled 'Forest Secrets', gives an outline of the Kulin People in southern Victoria Australia...

 http://museumvictoria.com.au/forest/humans/aboriginal.html

         My next photo shows... oh I'll simply write... my Eucalypt's large gnarl, from which a big bowl would probably be able to be made....

         And that beautiful Eucalyptus Gnarl contributed considerably to my Eucalypt's big base.

         Other benefits Australia's Aboriginal People found the Eucalypt gives, is from the Leaves of some species when crushed and soaked in water could be used for medicinal purposes.

         The sap, which exudes from many Eucalypt Trees, often happen where insects have made holes. When the liquid dries it becomes sugary white drops which fall to the ground, and a delicious sweet is enjoyed.

         I don't have photos of those moments, but I do have another gnarl to show you. This one is higher and smaller, with the previous larger one just visible on Eucalypt's lower left ...

         Looking back up.....

         Truly is a beautiful Eucalypt....

I went over to the area where I found the Purple Flowers on top of tall spindly stems... still no identification... but a few more tries at photos I do have....

         With the next two, I attempted close-ups...

         Poetic picture effort... sometimes I find diminishing highlights, increasing contrast and lifting away shadows can do interesting things. Helps occasionally when I cannot provide the definition I would like to with Vivaz being my phone and not a nitty-gritty camera. 

         Returning to Eucalypt....

          ..... and that Canopy way above the rest, belongs to my Eucalypt, who resides behind the spindly foreground Eucalypt and amid the cluster of other Tree's Foliage. The Purple Flowers are behind me as I did the photo.

         I returned to Eucalypt's Trunk, and did another photo in the vicinity of the smaller gnarl....

         To me there appears to be the remains of a much larger gnarl. Maybe it was chiselled away or fell away. There does seem to be signs that a chiselling away process had been applied at some time, but that could also be my imagination at work.  

        Though the Foliage in the next photo are not Eucalypt's, I think they do enhance Eucalypt's beautiful Trunk. The thin Tree Trunk growing alongside Eucalypt is someone I don't know, but they seem to be getting along quite well...

         That would have been the final photo for Part 3... but I'll continue with what would have been Part 4...

I'll begin with some more information.....

         Eucalyptus is one of three similar genera that are commonly referred to as "Eucalypts". The other two being Corymbia and Angophora.

         Corymbia is a genus of about 113 species of Tree that were classified as Eucalyptus species until the mid-1990s. It includes the Bloodwoods, Ghost gums and Spotted gums. Corymbia has 99 species and subspecies. The major groups within Corymbia are the Red bloodwoods (58 species and subspecies), Yellow bloodwoods (11 species), Ghost gums (24 species and subspecies), Spotted gums (3 species) plus three species that don't fit easily in these groups.

Wonderfully complicated would you agree? 

         Angophora is a genus of ten species of Trees or Large Shrubs in the Myrtle Family (Myrtaceae), Native to Eastern Australia. Angophora is closely related to Corymbia and Eucalyptus.

All three are often referred to as "Eucalypts".

         So the intricacies to details for differentiation deepens.

Pure confusion included I am sure.

         But... I do have some reference links where you may not really unravel the complicated intricacies of differences, but you will be enlightened, even if only a little... 

For Corymbia....

   australian plants online

http://anpsa.org.au/APOL19/sep00-3.html

   Wikipedia...

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corymbia 

For Angophora...

   Wikipedia

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angophora

        During my Searches I met a Site I will return to called EUCLID.... a Site devoted to Eucalypts of Australia, aWebsite by the Centre For Plant Biodiversity Research.

In the meantime.... from Euclid... to know...

   More About Corymbia

http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/cd-keys/euclid3/euclidsample/html/Bloodwoods.htm

   and More About Angophora

http://www.publish.csiro.au/samples/euclidsample/html/More_about_Angophora.htm

         Time for some more photos....

         I don't know what you see or feel when you encounter Trees, when you visually travel their individual structural shapes, but I can share some of what I experience with you.

         For me, being amid Trees, visually following a Tree's contours, listening to their sounds while Air moves through their Leaves and sways their Branches is a sensuous experience.

         Trees for me are Dancers entwining intricate movements in the way they grow, extend their Branches, interact with each other.

         Trees for me are Singers, sending out melodies and tunes through every extended Branch.

         Then with either the Moon's Light or the Sun's Light, Trees create an artistic canvas of colour and mood set to varying backdrops like no other Landscape painting does. Of course through Rain and Fog, there are more beautiful Scenes and Sounds.

         I cannot leave out Deciduous Trees, for they too sing their Songs while their Dance has a different rhythm, especially when interacting with Snow and the Season's changing cycles.  

         Back to Eucalypt after travelling up the Trunk to one far reaching Branch in previous photos, I've turned the opposite way, where Eucalypt's far-reaching Branches extends to its Neighbours....

         I looked further up that far-reaching side and enjoyed the Sun's late afternoon intensity lighting up Eucalypt's beautiful Branches and Foliage....

         I've had a lovely time gathering these ambitious photos with my phone. Am not at all disappointed with what Vivaz gave me as memory to have of a special sharing with a special beautiful Eucalypt.

          With a final bit of information about the Eucalypt for you, I'm nearly done....

         Some Eucalyptus species have attracted attention from global development researchers and environmentalists. Such species are desirable for their fast-growth and so providing a source of wood.

         They produce oil that can be used for cleaning and and as a natural insecticide. They have the ability to be used to drain swamps and thereby reduce the risk of malaria.

         Outside their natural ranges, Eucalypts are both lauded for their beneficial economic impact on poor populations and derided for being invasive water-suckers, leading to controversy over their total impact.

         Eucalypts also have the capacity to explode/burst into flames in extreme heat, and their branches can be missiles in severe storms, and sometimes their larger branches will just let go and fall, almost without warning.

         Therefore, when a Eucalypt is huge, not having them too close to one's home is a reasonably good idea... but having them too far away deprives one of much beauty.

         The Eucalypt Tree, whichever genera species, is deserving of respect, admiration, appreciation and care.

         As I was leaving my time with Eucalypt I noticed the following Creative moment...

         When I had finished filing this whole collection of photos of my special Eucalypt, I realised I did not have any photos of this Eucalypt's Leaves....

         Flowers were not the Season for happening during November... but when do happen... are small, creamy white, sort of fluffy, extremely richly creamily scented of muted Honeyed Eucalyptus. Bees love them, as do many Birds, especially smaller Parrots and me...

         I did manage some Leaves... not brilliantly, they were too high up for my phone Vivaz, but.....

         Thank you for sharing your time with my Journey with a wonderful Eucalypt. 

My photos were achieved with my 8megapixel Sony Ericsson Phone, Vivaz. Any editing done with Windows Photo Edit and Windows Paint enables me to write on my photos. 

Information I included I found amid the links I gave within this Post.

Have a wonderful day and night...

Appreciation from

Magda and Crew