Saturday, February 26, 2011

Eucalyptus - Alissa Duke

Royal Botanic Gardnen- Sydney .

Eucalyptus maidenii, commonly known as Maiden's Gum, is a Eucalypt species native to eastern Victoria and southeastern New South Wales, Australia. It was named after the Director of the Royal Botanic Garden (1896 - 1924)

It grows up to 75 m tall. Its most distinctive and lovely feature is the bark that sheds to ground level, leaving smooth grey-white and smooth trunk. I love this texture and character this one has

The leaves are 15 to 25 cm long and when they a fall from the tree turn colour on the ground and,can be an assortment of wonderfully bright colours. But they are green on the tree.

I've been collecting and drawing gum leaves from this tree for an exhibition that is part of the upcoming Sydney Royal Botanic Garden Sketchabout . We also have a blog and I invite you to link on the site to "follow us on Google"

watercolour pencil and ink

3 comments:

  1. It looks HUGE, Alissa, much larger and rougher than the eucalyptus I'm used to in California. It's beautifully done!

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  2. It is huge - and it not like those tall, smooth trunked gum trees that are very commmon. I drove through California once and it was very surreal seeing all the gum trees there.

    In regards to Eucalyptus, there is a novel called Eucalyptus by Murray Bail, published about 12 years ago. It tells the tale of a man and his daughter on a property in New South Wales. She grows into a beautiful young woman and her father announces his decision: she will marry the first man who can name all the 600 plus species of the eucalypt that he has planted on his property, down to the last tree. His descriptive enthusiasm for the various Eucalyptus can be delightful in this tale.

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