New eucalypt species unveiled in London

[Michaelangelica]

New eucalypt species unveiled in London

 

By Meredith Griffiths for AM

 

Posted 9 hours 11 minutes ago

 

Botanists from the world-renowned Kew Botanical Gardens in London have announced that they have discovered two new species of eucalypt trees in Australia.

 

They are among 250 new plant and fungus species unveiled by the Gardens as it celebrates its 250th anniversary.

 

The smallest of the new species is a type of wood-rotting fungus that scientists found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia

 

The director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Professor Stephen Hopper, is the right man for the job according to Dr Tim Entwhistle from the Botanic Gardens in Sydney.

 

"Steve Hopper's an expert on eucalypts and particularly in Western Australia, he's had experience there before," Dr Entwhistle said.

 

"He went to Kew and in fact he's the first director of Kew to come from Australia, so he took that expertise with him."

 

Professor Hopper and his colleague Luke Sweedman only found a few hundred plants of each of the two new eucalypts.

 

The first is a dwarf, forming a low growing mallee about one metre high.

 

It has got a special underground root stock which allows it to regrow after bushfires.

 

The second new species is not fire resistant in the same way, so the botanists from Kew have suggested that perhaps a better way to ensure their survival is to start marketing them as ornamental plants.

 

Botanist have already identified about 700 species of eucalyptus, but Dr Entwhistle says there could still be more out there.

New eucalypt species unveiled in London - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)