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''Eucalyptus urophylla'', commonly known as Timor white gum,
Timor mountain gum, popo or ampupu,
[ is a species of ]eucalypt
Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia:
''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', '' Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...
native to islands of the Indonesian Archipelago
The islands of Indonesia, also known as the Indonesian Archipelago ( id, Kepulauan Indonesia) or Nusantara, may refer either to the islands comprising the country of Indonesia or to the geographical groups which include its islands.
History ...
and Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, also ...
.[
It is also common in other countries with humid and subhumid tropical climates where it is grown as ]plantation timber
A tree plantation, forest plantation, plantation forest, timber plantation or tree farm is a forest planted for high volume production of wood, usually by planting one type of tree as a monoculture forest. The term ''tree farm'' also is used to ...
.
It is the floral emblem
In a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions. Different processes have been used to ...
of East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...
.
Description
This ''Eucalypt'' is an evergreen tree that typically grows to a height of but can also be gnarled shrub when growing conditions are unfavourable.[ The tree has a straight bole with no branches present on the trunk for up to . The trunk can have a diameter of up to . The appearance of the bark is variable depending on conditions but is typically persistent and subfibrous, smooth to shallow with close longitudinal fissures and red-brown to brown in colour. It will sometimes have a rougher texture mostly at the base of the trunk.]
The discolourous evergreen adult leaves have a subopposite to alternate, arrangement and are a broadly lanceolate
The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...
shape with a length of and a width of .[
''E. urophylla'' will commence flowering after two or three years during the ]dry season
The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...
.[
It produces a simple axillary ]inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
called a conflorescence with a solitary umbels containing five to eight flowers that are in length.[
After flowering it produces a gum-nut or fruit. The fruit has the shape of a typical ''Eucalypt'' capsule. It is cup-shaped and contains three to valves with a double operculum.] The fruit contains four to six small black semicircular seeds.[ The seeds are mature six months after flowering.][
The species can be quite variable with regard to bark, fruit size and shape.][
]
Taxonomy
The species was first described in 1977 by the botanist Stanley Thatcher Blake
Stanley Thatcher Blake (1910 – 24 February 1973) was an Australian botanist who served as president of the Royal Society of Queensland and who was associated with the Queensland Herbarium beginning in 1945 until his death.
Background
Prior ...
as part of the work ''Four new species of Eucalyptus'' as published in the journal
A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to:
*Bullet journal, a method of personal organization
*Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period
*Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...
''Austrobaileya
''Austrobaileya'' is the sole genus consisting of a single species that constitutes the entire flowering plant family Austrobaileyaceae. The species ''Austrobaileya scandens'' grows naturally only in the Wet Tropics rainforests of northeast ...
''. The specific epithet ''urophylla'' means 'with leaves having an elongated tip', and is formed from components ultimately derived from Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: ''uro-'' meaning 'tail' and ''-phyllus'' meaning 'leaved'.[ p. 522.] Blake describes the leaves as "caudate", meaning 'ending with a tail-like appendage'.
It has been used to produce hybrid
Hybrid may refer to:
Science
* Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding
** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species
** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
species as it appears to be insect-resistant, including a timber with a trade name of "Lyptus", hybridised with '' Eucalyptus grandis'', commonly known as the rose gum or flooded gum.
Distribution and ecology
The species is native to the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia. It has a scattered distribution in south eastern areas.[ It has a scattered distribution and is known on seven islands in total; ]Adonara
Adonara is an island in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia, located east of the larger island of Flores in the Solor Archipelago. To the east lies Lembata, formerly known as Lomblen. Adonara is the highest of the islands of the archipelago, re ...
, Alor, Flores, Lembata
Lembata is an island in the Lesser Sunda Islands, also known as Lomblen island; it is the largest island of the Solor Archipelago, in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. It forms a separate regency of the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur. The ...
, Pantar
Pantar ( id, Pulau Pantar) is the second largest island in the Indonesian Alor Archipelago, after Alor. To the east is the island of Alor and other small islands in the archipelago; to the west is the Alor Strait, which separates it from the S ...
, Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, also ...
and Wetar
Wetar is a tropical island which belongs to the Indonesian province of Maluku and is the largest island of the Maluku Barat Daya Islands (literally ''Southwest Islands'') of the Maluku Islands. It lies east of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which i ...
. It has a natural range of around .[ ''E. urophylla'' has an elevation range from ]sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...
up to around . It is endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to monsoonal areas with two to eight dry months per year. It can tolerate nutrient poor soils that are damp and well aerated.[ Most of the soils it is found in are volcanic in origin.][ It often dominates in open, usually secondary ]montane forest
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...
s where it is found on mountain slopes and in valleys. It is often found in soils based on basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...
, schist and slate but rarely round limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
.[
It has been introduced as a plantation timber to areas beyond its native range. The species was planted in ]Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
in 1890 and Brazil in 1919, it was introduced to Australia in 1966 and more recently to Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
, Congo, Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...
, French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas. ...
, Ivory Coast and Madagascar in Africa, and Malaysia, Vietnam, southern China and Papua New Guinea in Asia.[
It is recognised as an invasive weed in Brazil and is known to be a minor host of '' fall armyworm''.][
]
Uses
The tree is used to make a variety of products including charcoal, furniture, building poles, fenceposts, wall paneling, fibreboard pulp and paper and fuel.[
In Vietnam alone there are of ''E. urophylla'' plantations.
It can be used for reforestation purposes in its native range.][
]
See also
* List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5405723
urophylla
Plants described in 1977
Flora of the Lesser Sunda Islands
Timber industry