Abstract
Tropical provenances of Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. and E. tereticornis Smith were studied, in their natural habitat in Australia and in a 3.75-year-old progeny trial in Zimbabwe, for their potential to produce medicinal-grade essential oils. Substantial interand intra-specific variation in the contents of five prominent monoterpenes, 1,8-cineole, α-pinene, β-pinene, limonene and p-cymene was found. Plantations of E. camaldulensis established in the wet/dry tropics using seed from Petford in northern Queensland offer immediate potential for oil production. Other widely-planted Queensland provenances with oil potential are Gilbert River Bridge E. camaldulensis and, after some genetic improvement, E. tereticonis from Morehead and Kennedy Rivers. Select individual trees at Petford provide oil of enhanced quality, at about double the yield of ‘average’ trees.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbott, P. S. 1977. The Eucalyptus oils industry. Proc. of Australian Forestry Development Institute. conf., Traralgon, Vic., Oct. 26–30, 1977: 36–43.
—.1986. Commercial production of oil from eucalypt foliage. Proc. For. Prod. Res. Conf., Melbourne, Vic., 11 pp.
Ammon, D. G., Barton, A. F. M. and Clarke, D. A. 1986. Eucalyptus oil as a component of petrol-ethanol fuel blends. Search 17: 92–5.
Ammon D. G., Barton, A. F. M., Clarke, D. A. and Tjandra, J. 1985. Rapid and accurate chemical determination of terpenes in the leaves of Eucalyptus species. Analyst 110: 921–4.
Anon. 1988. Eucalyptus oil. In: British Pharmacopoeia, Vol. 1. (Her Majesty's Stationery Office:London) 239 pp.
Baker, R. J. and Nelder, J. A. 1978. Generalised Linear Interactive Modelling (GLIM) Manual. Section 3.3. Numerical Algorithms Group, Oxford.
Barton, A. F. M., Cotterill, P. P. and Brooker, M. I. H. 1990. Heritability of cineole yield in Eucalyptus kochii, a mallee species endemic to Western Australia. Silvae Genet (in press).
Brooker, M. I. H., Barton, A. F. M., Rockel, B. A. and Tjandra, J. 1988. The cineole content and taxonomy of Eucalyptus kochii Maiden and Blakely and E. plenissima (Gardner) Brooker, with an appendix establishing these two as subspecies. Aust. J. Bot. 36: 119–29.
Lassak, E. V. 1979. The volatile leaf oils of three species of Melaleuca. J. Proc. Roy. Soc. NSW 112:143–5.
. 1988. The Australian Eucalyptus oil industry, past and present. Chemistry in Aust. 55: 396–406.
Matheson, A. C. and Mullin, L. J. 1987. Variation among neighbouring and distant provenances of Eucalyptus grandis and E. tereticomis in Zimbabwean field trials. Aust. For. Res. 17: 233–50.
Midgley, S. J., Eldridge, K. G. and Doran, J. C. 1990. Genetic resources of Eucalyptus camaldulensis. Commonw. For. Rev. 64: 295–308.
Ndou, T. T. and von Wandruszka, R. M. A. 1986. Essential oils of South African Eucalyptus species (Myrtaceae). S. Afr. J. Chem. 39: 95–100.
Penfold, A. R. and Willis, J. L. 1961. The Eucalypts. World Crop Series: Leonard Hill: London, and Interscience Publishers: New York, 550 pp.
Pryor, L. D. and Bryant, L. H. 1958. Inheritance of oil characters in Eucalyptus. Proc. Linn. Soc. NSW 83: 55–64.
Rao, H. S., Shiva, M. P. and Jain, P. P. 1970. Eucalyptus oil potential from large-scale plantations. Indian For. 96:135–9.
Senanayake, U. M., Udakandage, S. J., Jayewardene, A. L. and de Silva, K. T. D. 1983. Studies on volatile oil of Eucalyptus camaldulensis. Paper to Ninth International Congress of Essential Oils, Singapore, 13–17 March 1983, Book 3: 93–6.
Turnbull, J. W. 1973. The ecology and variation of Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. Forest Genetic Resources Information 2, FAO, Rome: 32–7.
. 1975. Seed collection of eucalypts. In Report on the FAO/DANIDA Training Course on Forest Seed Collection and Handling. Vol. 2, FORTS-RAS 11 (DEN), FAO, Rome: 337–46.
Turnbull, J. W. and Griffin, A. R. 1986. The concept of provenance and its relationship to infraspecific classification in forest trees, 157–89. In: Styles, B. T. (Ed) Infraspecific Classification of Wild and Cultivated Plants, Vol. 29, The Systematics Association Special. Clarendon Press.
White, K. J. 1986. Tree farming practices in the Bhabar Terai of Central Nepal. Manual No. 2, Sargarnath Forest Development Project, Ministry of Forests. Kathmandu, Nepal, 191 pp-
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Doran, J.C., Brophy, J.J. Tropical red gums — a source of 1,8-cineole-rich Eucalyptus oil. New Forest 4, 157–178 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00118875
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00118875