Eucalyptus

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Eucalyptus (lat. Eucalyptus) - a genus of plants, different species of which sometimes have a very dissimilar appearance, that only botanists can accurately determine their belonging to a certain classification "shelf". Leaves can be of very different shapes and sizes, falling or evergreen, but at the same time have an amazing ability to freely let the sun's rays pass by, almost without creating a shadow on the surface of the earth with its crown. The leaves are full of a healing essential oil that people have successfully extracted and used for their health. Eucalyptus trees grow quickly, live long, and bloom beautifully.

What's in your name

"Eucalyptus" - the Latin name for the genus of variable plants, owes its origin to two Greek words, the literary translation of which can be represented by the phrase "well covered". The plants have earned this name for their sepals and flower petals, guarding their numerous fragile stamens. Sepals alone, or together with petals, grow together in such a way that a protective cup (or, as it is also called, "cap") is obtained, reliably wraps around the base of the stamens in order to protect them from the vicissitudes of life.

However, protecting the stamens, the plant deprives its inflorescences of petals. But, procreation is more important than fleeting beauty.

Description

Eucalyptus can be a low-growing shrub or a hundred-meter-tall tree. It all depends on the local living conditions, where fate brought the seeds of the plant.

Botanists, who love clarity and order, have divided all plants into 4 "high-rise" groups. Plants not exceeding 10 meters were called "small"; from 10 to 30 meters - "average"; from 30 to 60 - "high"; and those individuals that managed to jump over a height of 60 meters were called "very tall", one might say, "giants". Indeed, of the flowering plants of our planet, Eucalyptus is the highest representative of earthly beauty.

To feed such giants satisfyingly, you need powerful roots, which Eucalyptus has. They penetrate deep into the bowels of the Earth (up to 2.5 meters) to supply the aboveground parts with food and water. The ability of a tree to absorb a large amount of water from the soil is used by a person to drain marshlands, which are breeding grounds for an anopheles mosquito. Thus, Eucalyptus works for human health, protecting it from a bloodsucker that carries fever to people.

The diversity of the tree is also ensured by the bark, which can be not only smooth, but also folded, scaly, bearded, fibrous … Moreover, even one tree changes the appearance of its bark as it grows older. Eucalyptus can "cry", releasing from wounds, cracks in the bark, a red-black resinous liquid called "gum" or "cinema" (stress on the first syllable).

Covered with sebaceous glands, the variegated leaves of Eucalyptus in hot weather form a blue fog that hides the forest from prying eyes. To make the sun less troublesome, the leaves expose to its rays not the surface of the leaf plate, but the edge of the leaf. Thus, they protect themselves from excessive evaporation of moisture and volatile organic compounds, which are needed by the plant itself. You cannot hide under the Eucalyptus from the hot midday rays of the sun, because with this arrangement of leaves, the tree creates almost no shadow.

The Almighty did a lot of work, coming up with a unique form of Eucalyptus inflorescences. Having deprived the flowers of the tree of bright petals, he spent paint on numerous fluffy stamens, which can be red, cream, yellow, pink or white.

Rod-shaped yellow-brown seeds with a waxy coating on the surface are hidden in a cone-shaped wood capsule until fully ripe. When the seeds are ready for independent living, the capsule opens the valve, releasing the seeds into a white light.

Usage

Eucalyptus trees not only protect people from the anopheles mosquito by draining swamps, but also share the healing powers of their leaves, gum, bark, as well as the aromatic oil that their leaves are impregnated with.

Today, Eucalyptus oil has become available far beyond the growth of the tree, which allows you to use its ability to soften coughs, more successfully heal wounds on the skin, and calm rheumatism. The oil will help get rid of obsessive itching after a bite of blood-sucking insects, or scare away such insects with its smell.