Eucalypts

Book excerpt: Eucalypts are a familiar part of the Australian landscape and an integral part of their identity. They have farmed them and used them to build houses, furniture, roads, and bridges since the beginning of white settlement. They have been inspired by them, painted them, made films about them, written books about them, and of course Aboriginal Australians have long made musical instruments from them. Though a small number are found as native plants in several other countries, Eucalypts are a very Australian tree. This book celebrates their diversity, their beauty, and the role they play in the history, culture, and economy of Australia. It looks at their evolution, biology, horticulture, and ecology, together with their classification and the botanists involved. Through historic and contemporary images, it examines the many ways in which they have served Aboriginal, colonial, and contemporary Australians in both practical and aesthetic ways. Eucalypts have quite literally been the building blocks of that nation and this beautiful book tells their complete story for the first time.