Eucalyptus Wandoo

''Eucalyptus wandoo'', commonly known as wandoo, dooto, warrnt or wornt, is a small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of nine to seventeen, white flowers and conical to cylindrical fruit. It is one of a number of similar ''Eucalyptus'' species known as ''wandoo''.

Description

''Eucalyptus wandoo'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of and sometimes to and has a diameter of and where the bole or trunk that is usually straight and composes 50% to 65% of the total height of the tree. ''E.wandoo'' can have long lifetimes with some trees is excess of 150 years of age. It forms a lignotuber, the woody tuber that begins to develop near the base of seedlings but can become huge in older trees and contains embedded epicormic buds that allow the plant to regenerate following destruction of the crown following fire or drought.

Saplings and coppice regrowth have fibrous bark on the stems that become smoother as trees mature. The stems of saplings can be circular or square shaped in cross section and have a powdery coating (glaucous). Older trees has smooth powdery or non-powdery white bark, often with patches of white, grey or light brown. Old layers of bark come off in flakes and it is not uncommon for a few flakes to persist on the trunk for a long time. Branchlets do not have a powdery coating as the bark of older trees can, and the soft central cylinder of tissue within, the pith contains many glands.

Young plants and coppice regrowth have leaves that are egg-shaped, broadly lance-shaped or D-shaped, long and wide. Adult leaves are the same shade of greyish-green or greyish-blue on both sides, lance-shaped or curved, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of nine to seventeen on an unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds on pedicels long. Mature buds are spindle-shaped but curved, long and wide with a conical operculum up to twice as long as the floral cup.
Flowering occurs between March to June for wandoo found to the north of the Avon Valley, these are known as the winter wandoo. The spring wandoo found to the south of Wandering flower in spring and early summer or from September to January while the summer wandoo, also found to the south of Wandering, flower from January to February.
The flowers are white or cream-coloured. The fruit is a woody capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level.

Taxonomy

''Eucalyptus wandoo'' was first described in 1934 by the Australian botanist William Faris Blakely in his book ''A Key to the Eucalypts''. The specific epithet "wandoo" comes from the Noongar name for the tree. The type specimen was collected by the English collector Augustus Frederick Oldfield from a sand plain along the Kalgan River who made numerous collections in the south western parts of Western Australia. The holotype is held at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

In 1991, Ian Brooker and Stephen Hopper described two subspecies and the names have been accepted by the Australian Plant Census and Plants of the World Online:
* ''Eucalyptus wandoo'' subsp. ''pulverea'' has powdery bark, glaucous branchlets and larger juvenile leaves than the autonym;
* ''Eucalyptus wandoo'' subsp. ''wandoo'' has bark that is not powdery, yellow new bark, branchlets that are not glaucous and narrower juvenile leaves than those of subspecies ''pulverea''.

Plants of the World Online, but not the Australian Plant Census, lists ''Eucalyptus redunca'' var. ''elata'', formally described in 1867 by George Bentham in ''Flora Australiensis'', as a synonym of ''E. wandoo''.

Distribution and habitat

Wandoo occurs in the south west of Western Australia from Geraldton to the south coast, and from the west coast inland as far as Narembeen. It grows in sandy loams, clay loams or dark brown loamy soils and stony soils, that can contain laterite, granite or gravel as part of an undulating landscape. It is found along the base of the Darling Scarp and spreads south and east out into the Wheatbelt and as far as the Great Southern.
Wandoo is absent from the high rainfall areas between these regions.Subspecies ''pulverea'' is less common and occurs between Cataby and Morawa. It is usually found at elevations of in valleys or on plateaux and ridges where there is a Mediterranean climate and most rainfall occurs in the winter months and there is an average rainfall of per annum although it can be dry for six to seven months of the year. The average temperature range is usually . It is often part of Jarrah forest in medium rainfall areas but is not usually found in high rainfall areas.
The tree forms an open woodland where it often forms the overstorey mixed in with jarrah and marri trees.
Agricultural clearing has significantly altered the distribution of the tree and it noe has a far for fragmented distribtion and is moslty situated in conservation reserves, state forests, on roadside verges and as paddock trees.

Conservation status

Both subspecies of ''E. wandoo'' are classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife.
Decline of the habitat and crown decline of wandoo has been studied.
It is estimated that There has been a decline is the crown size of Wandoo trees since the 1980s which is due to a decline in the health of the population. Some of the causes are thought to be change fire regimes, climate variability, land clearing, fungal and insect activity and salinity.
''E.wandoo'' is endemic to south western parts of Western Australia where it was once widespread. Only about 5% of the trees habitat now remains with the rest having been cleared for agriculture.

Ecology

The woodlands formed by wandoo are composed stands of open, widely spaced trees over sparse understoreys of shrubs, grasses and herbs. The range of plants which flower at through the year provide a constant source of nectar for birds including honeyeaters as well as insects, which in turn provide a source of food for other birds including the golden whistler, western yellow robin and Rufous treecreeper.
Wandoo is vital for native wildlife with various animal species using tree hollows and shed branches as habitat. The flowers are a good source of nectar for birds and insects. The bark and foliage of the tree is home to an abundance of spiders and insects including; native cockroaches, thrips, beetles and flies. These organisms are important for pollination, seed dispersal and recycling nutrients as well as attracting insectivorous birds.

Destructors

''E.wandoo'' is affected by the beetle '' Cisseis fascigera'', causing a condition known as crown decline. The beetle lays it's eggs during the summer months in the twig bark. Once the eggs hatch then the larvae bore straight down into the twigs and consume the bark and cambium tissue underneath into the twigs and branches causing damaging branch tissue. Consequently flagging (where groups of terminal foliage die off) and death of branches occurs, usually in autumn.

Reproduction

Masses of white or cream-coloured flowers are produced by the tree between December and May, but individual trees usually flower at different times and the male stamens mature before the female stigmas. Pollination by animals is required by the flowers to set the woody fruit capsules. The seeds commonly have a limited dispersal throughout the ecosystem. ''E. wandoo'' trees found in saline areas and amongst smaller populations are inclined to produce a smaller number of fruits and seeds.

Disease

The tree is susceptible to root rot caused by the ''Armillaria luteobubalina'' fungus and is known to have a high mortality rate.
Wandoo is among several eucalypts that are resistant to the ''Phytophthora cinnamomi'' fungi commonly known as dieback.

Uses

The indigenous Noongar peoples used wandoo as a medicinal plant with antibacterial properties and the leaves are steamed or used to make poultices relieve congestion. The dried gum of the plant was ground up and used as an ointment.

The wandoo also has sweet and juicy outer parts on the roots which were scraped off and eaten. The flowers were soaked in water and made into a sweet drink.
The wood of this species is extremely dense, with a density of and is used for a range of heavy duty construction purposes, including as railway sleepers and wood flooring. There was once an industry in the extraction of tannin from the bark and wood. These days the wood is not much available, as the wandoo forests are preserved for recreation and watershed protection. The wood and bark contains 10 to 12% tannin. The wood has a yellow to light reddish brown colour is textured with a wavy to interlocked grain and is considered extremely durable and resistant to termites. The wood also has no chemical reactions with metal fastenings.

Wandoo is also famous for the honey produced from its nectar. and is a mainstay for Western Australia's apiculture industry.

Essential oils can also be extracted from the leaves. The composition and quantity of oil varies from plant to plant Leaves can contain up to 1.8% essential oil including chemicals such as cymene, pinene, terpinene and 1,8-cineole.

See also

* List of ''Eucalyptus'' species

References

Further reading

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eucalyptus wandoo
wandoo
Myrtales of Australia
Eucalypts of Western Australia
Trees of Australia
Trees of Mediterranean climate
Plants described in 1934
Taxa named by William Blakely
Endemic flora of Southwest Australia