I’ve been working my Eucalypt identification skills overtime and discovered that there are at least 3 dark-barked (by which I mean their trunk bark is brown to grey to black) types of ironbark growing as street trees in my area. The main two seem to be E Tricarpa and E Sideroxylon, but it appears I also have E Corynodes. One of the reasons I’m feeling some confidence is because of the results I have had from the dye pot:
In order of appearance:
E Citriodora–not an ironbark, just for comparison!–(Goodwood); E Tricarpa (Goodwood); E Tricarpa (Black Forest)
E Corynodes (Black Forest); E Sideroxylon (Goodwood); E Sideroxylon (a different tree, in Goodwood)
I would have to say that the dye results are more consistent than my perception of the appearance of the trees! One happy outcome of paying more attention is that I have observed that at this time of year E Tricarpa (and some E Sideroxylons) have tiny buds in formation among the fresh young leaves, and this enables a confident identification as between them. E Tricarpa has buds grouped in threes and E Sideroxylon has buds grouped in sevens. Sometimes fruits are so high in the tree I can’t tell, and sometimes the sample I am able to reach has umbels where some fruits have broken off but I can’t be confident how many. So this discovery is a help to the person trying confidently to tell them apart–me, for instance.
E Tricarpa (see those tiny buds-in-formation?):
E Sideroxylon:
I need to go a little further afield to consider other variations on the theme, but for now I think I will consider wider-leafed ironbarks to be types I don’t know well, rather than assuming they are E Sideroxylon with a better supply of water and nutrients. You know what they say about assumptions!
Jean Carman would be proud of you ….. I wish I was more the cataloging type but alas I’m not.
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Luckily it isn’t a requirement to be the cataloguing type! There are fabulous role models in the constant experimentation mode too…
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I just got a wee parcel – thank you soo much! I’ll drag out my XP laptop tonight and do the complete installation. I’m curious how fast my identification skills will improve. Thank goodness our trees are smallish. We planted them a decade ago for coppicing, so they’re not super high. And through the constant cutting, they always have an abundance of leaves. Btw: I see what you mean about E. citriodora… maybe I was wrong about the orange. Will repeat the experiment and let you know. Thanks again, it’s very much appreciated!
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You’re so welcome!
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