Eucalyptus globulus Labill.
Eucalypt, Tasmanian bluegum
Source: James A. Duke. 1983. Handbook of Energy Crops. unpublished.
- Folk Medicine
- Yields and Economics
- Biotic Factors
A handsome ornamental shade, most widely planted of the subtropical/eucalypts.
Grown for firewood in India (C.S.I.R., 1948 1976). This is one of the best
eucalypts for pulp production. The timber is used for carpentry, construction,
fences, piles, platforms, plywood, poles, sheds, and stations, tool handles,
veneer, etc. Essential oil, widely used in cough drops, is antiseptic,
rubefacient, and stimulant (Morton, 1981). A type of kino extracted from the
tree in Argentina. Eucalyptus hybrid 'Mysore' is a promising source of
pinenes, which are used in synthetic camphor, pine oil, terpineol, and in dry
cleaning fluids, solvents, and cheap deodorants (Verma et al., 1978). The
leaves have proven antibiotic acitivty. Their decoction is used for repelling
insects and vermin (Morton, 1981). Africans use finely powdered bark as an
insect dust. Mexicans chew the leaves to strengthen the gums. Said to be a
good honey plant, Portuguese bee farmers like to raise their bees near this
Reported to be anodyne, antiperiodic, antiphlogistic, antiseptic, astringent,
deodorant, diaphoretic, expectorant, febrifuge, hemostat, inhalant, insect
repellant, rubefacient, sedative yet stimulant, suppurative, and vermifuge, the
bluegum eucalyptus is a folk remedy for abscess, arthritis, asthma, boils,
bronchitis, burns, cancer, catarrh, cold, cough, croup, cystitia, diabetes,
diptheria, dysentery, dyspepsia, fever, flu, grippe, inflammation, laryngitis,
leprosy, malaria, miasma, phthisis, rhinitis, sores, sorethroat, spasms,
tuberculosis, tumors, vaginitis, wounds, and worms (Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk,
1962; Duke and Wain, 1981; List and Horhammer, 19691979; Morton, 1981).
Venezuelans take leaf decoction for cheat airments or colds, inhaling the
vapors or drinking the decoction. Guatemalans use the leafy shoots for coughs
and grippe, Jamaicans put the leaves in the bed, the bath, or the teapot for
colds and fever. Cubans use the essential oil for bronchitis, bladder and
liver infections, lung ailments, malaria, and stomach trouble. Mexicans chew
the fresh leaves to strengthen the gums. Mexicans also use the leaf decoction
as a vaginal douche. They argue that daily drinking of the leaf infusion can
reverse diabetes in 8 days. Leaves are placed in the bath for rheumatism
(Morton, 1981). Homeopaths use the plant for bronchitis, colds, flu,
laryngitis, and rheumatism. In Asia, the leaf oil, clearly poisonous in large
quantities, is regarded as anesthetic, antibiotic, antiperiodic, expectorant,
febrifuge, and vermifuge, and it is used for asthma, bronchitis, influenza, and
tuberculosis (Perry, 1980). In Australila, the leaves of the bluegum are still
widely used as a household remedy in the treatment of many diseases and minor
complaints. In Britain and Europe the essential oil, which is powerfully
antiseptic, was given for fevers and febrile conditions, for pulmonary
tuberculosis, and was applied or inhaled for relieving asthma, bronchitis,
sorethroat, croup, whooping-cough, scarlet fever, and even diptheria and
typhoid. The dried leaves were also smoked like cigarettes for asthma while
the oil in the form of an aperitif was taken as a digestive (Brooker et al.,
1981). Europeans in Africa and Africans themselves may wear the leaf in the
hat or place it around the residence as a flu preventative. It is also
regarded as a malaria preventitive. African herbalists believe the root is
Leaves contain 7080% eucalyptol (cineol). Also includes terpineol,
sesquiterpene alcohols, aliphatic aldehydes, isoamyl alcohol, ethanol, and
terpenes (Morton, 1981). Tannin is not so copious in the leaves as of many
other Eucalyptus species. The kino, containing 28.7% kino-tannin and
47.9% catechin contains the very antibiotic citriodorol (Watt and
Bryer-Brandwijk, 1962). Verma et al. (1978) found 20.2% a-pinene, 25.2%
b-pinene, and only 16.8% cineole in the cv 'Mysore'. Fresh leaves contain
caffeic and gallic acids, dry leaves, ferulic and gentisic (Boukef et al.,
1976), and quercetol, quercitrine, rutin, and a mixture of quercetol hyperoside
and glaucoside. N-titriacontan-16, 18-dione was identified as the compound
responsible for antioxidant activity in the leaf wax (Osawa and Namik, 1981).
In large doses, oil of eucalyptus, like so many essential oils has caused
fatalities from intestinal irritation (Morton,1981). Death is reported from
ingestion of 424 ml of essential oils, but recoveries are also reported for
the same amount. Symptoms include gastroenteric burning and irritation,
nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, oxygen deficiency, ,weakness, dizziness, stupor,
difficult respiration, delirium, paralysis, convulsions, and death, usually due
to respiratory failure (Duke, 1984b). Reported to cause contact dermatitis
(Brooker et al, 1981). Sensitive persons may develop urticaria from handling
the foliage and other parts of the plant (Watt and Bryer- Brandwijk, 1962).
Evergreen tree 4070 m tall with straight massive trunk 0.62 m in diameter
with narrow, irregular crown of large branches and drooping aromatic,
camphoraceous foliage. Root system deep and spreading. Bark smoothish,
mottled gray, brown, and greenish or bluish, peeling in long strips, at base
becoming gray, rough and shaggy, thick, and finely furrowed; inner bark light
yellow within thin green layer. Leaves alternate, drooping on flattened
yellowish petioles 1.54 cm long, narrowly lanceolate, 1030 cm long, 2.55 cm
wide, mostly curved, acuminate at tip, acute at base, entire, glabrous, thick,
leathery, with fine straight veins and vein inside marlin, shiny dark green on
both surfaces. Flowers 1 (rarely 23), at leaf base, more than 5 cm across,
the very numerous, white stamens ca 12 mm long. Buds top-shaped, 1215 mm
long, 1225 mm wide. Stamens many, threadlike, white, anthers oblong opening
in broad slits with round gland. Pistil with inferior 35-celled ovary and
long stout style. Capsules single at leaf base, broadly top-shaped or rounded,
11.5 cm long, 22.5 cm wide, 4-angled, warty. Seeds many, irregularly
elliptical, 23 mm long, dull black (Little, 1983).
Reported from the Australian Center of Diversity, bluegum, or cvs thereof is
reported to tolerate narrower extremes of temperature and soil than many of the
more tropical species. (2n = 20, 22, 28)
The most extensively planted eucalypt species in the world...a total of 800,000
ha in dozens of countries...About half the world's plantation area is in
Portugal and Spain (Little, 1983). Also cultivated in California, Arizona, and
Ranging from Cool Temperate Moist to Wet through Subtropical Dry to Moist
Forest Life Zones, bluegum eucalyptus is reported to tolerate annual
precipitation of 8 to 16 dm and annual temperature of ca 16 to 20°C. Major
successes have been in mild temperate climates and in cool highlands.
Elsewhere it fails (NAS, 1980a).
Propagated by seed and basket transplants ca 6 mos old. No seed treatment is
required. Fresh seeds germinate well but deteriorate rapidly. The tree is
readily established, easily reproducing from self-sown seed. In California,
seed collections from a single tree exhibit wide variation (280%) in
germinative capacity after a 30-day germination period (Ag. Handbook 450).
Seedlings like the adults are susceptible to drought, fire, and frost. Grasses
need to be weeded, as the tree does not compete well with grasses (NAS, 1980a).
Tree grows rapidly and coppices readily (reaching a meter or more in a few
Usually grown on rotations of 515 years. In India's Nilgiris, bluegum
plantations are worked for fuel purposes on a 15-year coppice (C.S.I.R.,
Annual wood production of 1030 m3 has been reported from sites in
Italy, Peru, Portugal, and Spain (NAS, 1980a). Verma et al (1978) estimated
essential oil yields between ca 40 and 45 kg/ha from 68 MT green leaves.
Completely dry leaves contain 1.27% oil in the cv 'Mysore'. The Wealth of
India suggests 30 MT biomass/ha/yr in the Nilgiris (C.S.I.R., 19481976).
About 30 MT/ha biomass are reported. Verma et al. (1978) calculated little
more than 7 MT leaves per hectare, green, or 68 MT for the cv 'Mysore', 34 MT
dry leaves. In his compilation, Cannell (1982) cites data on trees 9.5 years
old, spaced at 2,196 trees/ha. The stem wood on a DM basis weighed 1958
MT/ha, the stem bark 511, the branches 2.65.5, the foliage 4.06.7, for a
total standing aerial biomass of 35110 MT/ha. The CAI (current annual
increment) of stem wood was 2.97.7 m3/ha/yr, stem bark 0.71.5,
branches 0.50.7, foliage 2.6ca 6 for a total aerial CAI of 6.715.6 MT/ha/yr,
the low figures representing unfertilized trees, the high reflecting ca 200 kg/ha
N and 90 kg/ha P. These data were taken at Victoria, Australia (38°20'S,
146°20'E, elev. 150 m). The wood burns freely, leaving little ash, and
carbonizes easily, making good charcoal. With calorific value of 4,800
kcal/kg, the heavy wood (sp. grav. 0.81.0) is widely used for fuelwood and
charcoal (NAS, 1980). Even the dead leaves and fallen bark are highly
flammable. The charcoal is used for producer gas plants (C.S.I.R., 19481976).
Cromer and Williams (Austr. J. Bot. 30:265. 1982) report that it took 9.5 years
to accumulate 30 MT/ha biomass unfertilized, but only 4 years in heavily
Listed as affecting Eucalyptus globulus are the following:
Actinopelte dryina, Armillaria mellea, Cercospora epicoccoides, C.
eucalypti, Corticium salmonicolor, Cryptosporium eucalypti, Cytospora
australiae, C. eucalyptina, Diaporthe medusaea, Didymosphaeria circinnans,
Diplodia australiae, Fomes applanatus, F. scruposus, Fusarium oxysporum
var. aurantiacum, Ganoderma lucidum, Harknessia uromycoides,
Hendersonia eucalypticola, Laetiporus sulphureus, Macrophoma molleriana,
Macrophomina phaseoli, Monochaetia desmazierii, Mycosphaerella molleriana,
Pestalotia truncata, Pestalotiopsis funerea, Pezizella carneo-rosea, Pezizella
oenotherae, Phellinus gilvus, Phyllostica extensa, Physalospora latitans, P.
rhodina, P. suberumpens, Polyporus gilvus, P. hirsutus, P. schweinitzii, P.
sulphureus, P. versicolor, Poria cocos, P. versipora, Sclerotinia fuckeliana,
Septonema multiplex, Septosporium scyphophorum, Stereum hirsutum, and Valsa
eucalypti (Ag. Handbook 165; Browne, 1968). Also listed in Browne (1968)
are the following: Angiospermae: Dendrophthoe, neelgherensis, and
Viscum album. Coleoptera: Gonipterus scutellatus, Paropsis obsoleta,
Phoracantha semipunctata, and Triphocaris mastersi. Hemiptera:
Ctenarytaina eucalypti and Eriococcus coriaceus. Hymenoptera:
Rhinopeltella eucalypti. Lepidoptera: Metanastria hyrtaca,
Mnesampela privata, and Spilonota macropetana. Foliage unpalatable
to livestock. The oil rich wood is resistant to termites (NAS, 1980a).
Complete list of references for Duke, Handbook of Energy Crops
- Agriculture Handbook 165. 1960. Index of plant diseases in the United States.
- Agriculture Handbook 450. 1974. Seeds of woody plants in the United States.
Forest Service, USDA. USGPO. Washington.
- Boukef, K., Balansard, G., Lallemand, M., and Brenard, P. 1976. Study of
flavonic heterosides and agylcones isolated from leaves of Eucalyptus
globulus. (Hort. Abstract 47:1899.)
- Brooker, S.G., Cambie, R.C., and Cooper, R.C. 1981. New Zealand medicinal
plants. Heinemann Publishers, Auckland.
- Browne, F.G. 1968. Pests and diseases of forest plantations trees. Clarendon
- C.S.I.R. (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research). 19481976. The wealth
of India. 11 vols. New Delhi.
- Cannell, M.G.R. 1982. World forest biomass and primary production data.
Academic Press, New York.
- Duke, J.A. 1984b. Borderline herbs. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL
- Duke, J.A. and Wain, K.K. 1981. Medicinal plants of the world. Computer index
with more than 85,000 entries. 3 vols.
- List, P.H. and Horhammer, L. 19691979. Hager's handbuch der pharmazeutischen
praxis. vols 26. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
- Little, E.L. Jr. 1983. Common fuelwood crops: a handbook for their
identification. McClain Printing Co., Parsons, WV.
- Morton, J.F. 1981. Atlas of medicinal plants of middle America. Bahamas to
Yucatan. C.C. Thomas, Springfield, IL.
- N.A.S. 1980a. Firewood crops. Shrub and tree species for energy production.
National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.
- Osawa, T. and Namiki, M. 1981. A novel type of antioxidant isolated from leaf
wax of eucalyptus leaves. Agr. Biol. Chem. 45(3):735739.
- Perry, L.M. 1980. Medicinal plants of east and southeast Asia. MIT Press,
- Verma, V.P.S., Shiva, M.P., Subrahmanyam, I.V., and Suri, B.K. 1978.
Utilization of eucalyptus hybrid oil from forest plantations. Indian Forester
- 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
Last update Tuesday, January 6, 1998 by aw