National Eucalypt Day

National Eucalypt Day is held annually on 23 March and aims to raise awareness of Eucalypts and celebrate the important place that they hold in the hearts and lives of Australians.

Native to Australia but some species can be found in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Did you know not all Eucalypts are Eucalyptus. Eucalypteae is large tribe of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Members of this tribe are known as ‘Eucalypts’. In Australia, they are known as Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora. There are about 900 odd species of Eucalypts, over 700 of which belong to the genus Eucalyptus.

The term gum tree commonly used to describe various species because of the sticky gum that exudes from the trunks of some species when the bark is damaged. Not all eucalypts are referred to as gum trees. Foresters generally divide them (using bark appearance) into ashes, stringybarks, ironbarks, boxes, gums and bloodwoods.

[Above left image © Michele Dovers | Above far right image © Ian Johnsson]