Hardy Species of Eucalyptus, 1889

Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Gardens, Kew), Vol. 1889, No. 27 (1889), pp. 61-62

It is well known that some species of Eucalyptus are hardy in certain districts in this country, but the ordinary Blue Gum, E. Globulus is only sparingly so. We have recently received from Mr. Abbott, Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens at Hobart Town, Tasmania, a small quantity of seed of this species collected from trees growing at high altitudes and exposed to severe frosts. Seeds were also recived of E. coccifera from trees which were coated with icicles a foot long." It is probable that plants raised from seed of such hardy forms would likely bear with impunity the rigours of an English winter. The seed received has all been sown and the results will be duly noted later. In the meantime the following extract from a letter received from Mr. Abbott will be read with interest : -

In the same package I put a little seed of Eucalyptus Globulus from Tullochgorum, a part of the Colony where the winters are severe, and on that account the plants raised from the seed forwarded are likely to withstand an amount of cold that would kill the ordinary form, at all events it is so here, as all attempts to introduce the plants into the district from the southern parts of the island failed, the cold proving too severe. Eventually a few isolated plants of E. Globulus were found growing in a sheltered gully some 20 miles from Tullochgorum. These were the only plants of the species that have been found growing naturally in so cold a climate, and plants raised from these trees were planted about Tullochgorum, and grew into large trees ..."