Eucalyptus trees are taking on new roles: highly decorative and not necessarily as water-drainers.
By Daniella Ashkenazy
The Eucalyptus tree - a native of Australia and Tasmania - was first introduced into Israel by the British Mandatory Authorities in the 1920s. The stately and attractive trees, with their massive trunks and peeling bark, were planted to drain potential mosquito breeding grounds, to provide shade and to serve as a natural camouflage for military installations and road convoys. After the establishment of the State in 1948, the British tradition was preserved, and Eucalyptus groves continued to be planted countrywide. Two trees now dominate the local landscape - the Jerusalem pine and the hulking Eucalyptus.
In addition to draining swamps and providing cover, the Eucalyptus has served for generations as a source of medicinal ethers and aromatic oils. However, it took the perception of agronomist Yossi Ben-Dov of Ben-Gurion University's Institute for Applied Research to discover an entirely new use - as a cut flower.
Ben-Dov's decade-long project began with a sabbatical in Australia in 1991. Australia boasts no less than 650 varieties and sub-varieties of Eucalyptus. Over the years, Ben-Dov scoured the available written sources to locate varieties that can grow on saline, stony or caustic soils. Ben-Dov then made a number of return trips to Australia to collect suitable plant matter for propagation. He experimented with 200 varieties of the species that showed potential for thriving under semi-arid conditions. Following a decade of classification and selection work, Ben-Dov and his colleagues managed to find 46 varieties which propagate under these harsher conditions. The findings are of worldwide importance, particularly for semi-arid zones in the developing world where drought and saline-resistant varieties may be used for shade, forestation, prevention of soil and wind erosion, low-maintenance landscaping and as pollen-producers for honey industries.Yet the real breakthrough was conceptual: the aesthetic value of Eucalyptus buds.
"As material began to accumulate, we realized that the variety held huge potential, going beyond forestry as a source of wood or oils," Ben-Dov recalls. "Many of the varieties that thrive under semi-arid conditions harbored promise as decorative branches. No only can the leaves be used as fillers, as European growers have discovered, but many boughs can stand alone in a vase - just like cut flowers."
A second, technological breakthrough followed: the development of a method of propagating Eucalyptus trees from cuttings, making it possible to rapidly clone large quantities from the best specimens, for introduction into the commercial sector.
This new role for the Eucalyptus comes just in time - providing a new lease of life for a "local" landmark that in the past decade has fallen victim to the rapid urbanization of the country. BGU's "Eucalyptus project" has even produced a reference pamphlet entitled Eucalyptus for Water-Wise Landscaping, which contains photos and data categorizing the properties - such as height, water requirements, flowering season, and suitable uses - of the 46 varieties now available in the BGU nursery. Their foliage comes in an array of colors, leaf patterns and exotic-looking flower buds. Different varieties can be planted together, and landscaped to provide spots of color all year round. Most importantly for the local climate, none are "water gluttons". But there is one obstacle that tree farmers have yet to overcome: how to prune branches from the varieties with budding boughs 10 or even 20 meters above the ground.