Eucalyptus Dalrympleana

Description

Eucalyptus Dalrympleana, Mountain Gum

Hardy:	Very, frost tolerant below -15°C
Soil:	Tolerant of limey soils, providing soil quality is good
Growth:	Fast, up to 2m per year
Height:	35m plus
Biomass:	Good firewood, can be coppiced, polarded or logged
Bees:	Great for bees, white flowers from March to June

Eucalyptus Dalrympleana, more commonly known as White Mountain Gum due to the bright bark, which not surprisingly is usually white ! It can also be a variety of colours and patchy. In the early stages it is reddish brown and as the tree matures the bark peels off and reveals the distinctive bright bark. The majority of Eucalyptus do shed their bark.

As a specimen tree is it up their with the finest. This one is in Kew Gardens, England. A not dissimilar climate to Ireland.

Photo by standhisround. Its worth following the link as the photo on Flickr is high resolution and the detail is clearly visible when zoomed.

Same tree, different angle and close up, shows off the white coloured bark.

Photo by Sharon Hockenhull

Where I am in West Clare the may issue with Eucalyptus that I have is high winds, both for wind burn on the leaves and also for rocking them when they are younger and making them unstable. Perhaps because Dalrympleana are used to strong winds in the mountains of South Eastern Australia and Tasmania they are better able to cope with storms, and this is certainly the case for those I have planted. Hence they are considered a good shelter tree for livestock with mature trees having a large branching network. They can also be pruned to promote thicker growth. Note though that all young trees will benefit from shelter, which they will get from their parent trees in a natural forest.

Photo by Ian Sutton Again a high res good quality photo if you want to follow the link.

If you planted mountain gum as you mini forest, then you would have a very pleasant area to walk around in. Judging by the photo above, it looks like Dalrympleana would be a suitable variety for Agroforesty.

Dalrympleana do have other common names:

• Seven flowered mountain gum
• Ribbon gum

and perhaps the two that are most pertinent to growing Eucalyptus for firewood and biomass:

• Kindling bark
• Broad leaved kindling bark

Eucalyptus Dalrympleana can be coppiced, and is often grown for firewood and biomass.

As with most Eucalyptus it is fast growing, up to 2m a year. Mature trees will reach up to 20m.The video below is from the Pacific coast of the Canada. It describes Dalrympleana as being good firewood. The trees are 30 years old and 30 metres plus tall, which is generally taller than other research I have done. My own specimens are doing well, perhaps a metre a year here in Ireland and are generally wind

tolerant. Maybe now they are established they are becoming more established they will be more vigorous.

Trees regenerate in two ways:

• The awakening of dormant buds at leaf and branch nodes
• Growing from the roots using lignotubers

Eucalyptus Dalrympleana have lignotubers, and are therefore suitable for coppicing.