Eucalyptus globulus (blue gum)

Japanese name: ユーカリノキ
Scientific name: Eucalyptus globulus

[Overview]
An evergreen tree up to 60 m tall.
The bark is smooth and somewhat twisted, bluish gray, and peels off in long strips.
Juvenile and adult leaves differ in shape.
Juvenile leaves are opposite, often clasp the stem, are ovate to broadly lanceolate, and are tinged with a powdery white.
Adult leaves are alternate, 10–25 cm long and 3–4 cm wide, lanceolate and curved like a sickle, glossy and dark green.
The flowers are borne in groups of 2–3 or singly, and the petals and calyx are fused into a cap that falls off when the flower opens.
The flowers are large, 4 cm across, with no petals and many white stamens.
It flowers from October to December.
The fruit is top-shaped, 15–25 mm across.

[Uses]
The leaves are fragrant and yield an essential oil.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
It grows very fast and prefers fertile land, but it also grows in poor, wet, or dry ground.
It is somewhat weak in cold tolerance.
It is relatively tolerant of sea wind, but strong winds such as typhoons easily break its branches or topple it, and if damaged in late autumn it cannot recover before the cold arrives and weakens.
Transplanting mature trees is difficult.
It sprouts vigorously and tolerates pruning.

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