Most of the 700 or so species of eucalyptus
trees are native to Australia .
A small number of them are native to New Guinea
and Indonesia and one
species is found in the Philippines .
Several of these species have been planted in other parts of the world. At
least three species have been planted in the Maltese countryside, often to the
detriment of local flora.
The roots of many species of eucalyptus are
able to draw up water very efficiently and can dominate the flora in arid zones.
In many countries they were planted to drain marshes.
In the 1930s Mussolini planted thousands of
eucalyptus trees in the marshes around Rome
as part of an attempt to drain them and create new agricultural land and
destroy the habitat of the anopheles mosquito which transmits malaria.
In Malta eucalyptus trees are often
planted by bird hunters because they are fast growing and within a few years they
are large enough to lure migrating birds within range of the waiting hunters.
In Maltese eucalyptus trees are known as ewkaliptu but many hunters use the
name siġra tal-gamiem meaning the bird of the turtle doves.
The three species of eucalyptus that have
been planted in the Maltese islands flower at the end of summer. The flowers of
the commonest species, the red gum eucalyptus consist of an ovary surrounded by
a large number of stamens topped by pollen-carrying anthers.
The flowers are rich in nectar and pollen
and attract large numbers of bees. Many Maltese apiarists nowadays depend on
the presence of these trees to harvest honey during autumn. For some apiarists
eucalyptus trees have become so important that they protested when eucalyptus
trees were cut down. They even appealed for more eucalyptus trees to be planted.
Eucalyptus trees are still being planted by
hunters in the Maltese countryside. This practice should stop and trees that
have already been planted should be replaced by indigenous species such as Holm
oak (siġra tal-ballut) and Aleppo pine (siġra
taż-żnuber). Eucalyptus trees in built areas could be kept and perhaps more
could be planted to provide bees with nectar when few if any other sources of
nectar are available.
This article was published in the Times of Malta on 11 September 2013.
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