Eucalypts are a familiar part of the Australian landscape and an integral part of their identity. They have farmed them and used them to build houses, furniture, roads, and bridges since the beginning of white settlement. They have been inspired by them, painted them, made films about them, written books about them, and of course Aboriginal Australians have long made musical instruments from them. Though a small number are found as native plants in several other countries, Eucalypts are a very Australian tree. This book celebrates their diversity, their beauty, and the role they play in the history, culture, and economy of Australia. It looks at their evolution, biology, horticulture, and ecology, together with their classification and the botanists involved. Through historic and contemporary images, it examines the many ways in which they have served Aboriginal, colonial, and contemporary Australians in both practical and aesthetic ways. Eucalypts have quite literally been the building blocks of that nation and this beautiful book tells their complete story for the first time.

A comprehensive review of our current knowledge of the health and diseases of eucalypts.

Eucalypts are used for the production of paper products, firewood, charcoal, potential feedstocks for bioenergy and biomaterials, as ornamentals and landscape trees, and in land rehabilitation. Eucalypt breeding is at an early stage with many plantings being only at the first stages of domestication. The relatively small genomes of these species make the application of molecular genetics approaches attractive. The application of modern genomics will accelerate the development of improved eucalypts for a wide range of uses. This book brings together diverse information on the genetics, genomics, and breeding of these important forest species.

Most eucalypts grow naturally on soils low in fertility. Commercial plantations of eucalypts have been established around the world over a range of climates and soils. These two themes are central to this book. Nutrition of Eucalypts provides a comprehensive survey of nutritional ecology of eucalypts in their natural environment and in plantations. The authors, who are all at the forefront of research and development in their fields, are from the various eucalypt growing regions including Brazil, India, China, Spain and Australia. Their text aims at a state-of-the-art presentation. The book includes a key and descriptions for recognising nutrient deficiencies in eucalypts.

Atlas of Leaf Venation and Oil Gland Patterns in the Eucalypts is an aid to the identification of eucalypts in the field and a confirmation of the natural affinities between species and higher-level taxa on the basis of their comparative morphology. Its purpose is to standardise leaf venation and oil gland terminology and to demonstrate the taxonomic value of leaf venation and oil gland patterns within the eucalypts. The work discusses the visible features of the adult leaves of eucalypts as seen with reflected and transmitted light. Because venation and oil glands become obscure in dried specimens this work relies entirely on the comprehensive sampling and observation of fresh leaves. High quality, scaled, leaf venation images of vouchered specimens are used to compare all taxonomic groups in the eucalypts. All genera, sections, series and subseries are represented.

The dominant trees of Australia, eucalypts make up a remarkable genus. This authoritative volume provides current reviews by active researchers of many disciplines, including evolutionary history, genetics, distribution and modelling, the relationship of eucalypts to fire and nutrients, ecophysiology, pollination and reproductive ecology, interactions between eucalypts and other co-existing biota (including fungi, invertebrates and vertebrates), and conservation and management. Together these reviews shed light on the reasons for the great success of eucalypts in Australian environments, and provide a comprehensive summary for comparison with the ecology of major woody plant genera in other continents. This volume is of particular relevance to Australian ecologists, but also provides a stimulating perspective to students of vegetation ecology in all continents.