Eucalyptus
Did you know that there are more than 700 species of eucalyptus, mostly native to Australia.
Structural adaptations:
- The eucalyptus tree is able to be drought tolerant by having very small leaves (even microscopic) with the stems carrying out photosynthesis.
- They hang vertically to be exposed by less area to the dry sun making sure that the thick wax coating that gives them their typical grey colouration stays waxy.
- They also have stomata on both faces of the leaf, this shows a clever way of surface area because it utilizes the whole leaf even though the leaf is small.
Physiological Adaptations:
- They shed part of their canopy to reduce their water intake which is needed in high heat.
- By having a deep root system to store water and nutrients is useful to be able to survive frequent fires.
- Lignotubers are among the roots; they store food and have dormant buds to grow back from its original tree trunk if severely damaged following a fire.
Behavioural adaptations:
- The eucalyptus tree is a genus; there are 300 species within the genus located in a variety of different habitats such as alpine areas, deserts and tropical rainforests. Because of this, they have adapted to the different environments with various features enabling their survival such as a non limited deep root system to access water, hard seed cases, epicormin growth from damaged bark etc.
Below is a diagram showing the places the adaptations occur on the plant.
Structural adaptations:
- The eucalyptus tree is able to be drought tolerant by having very small leaves (even microscopic) with the stems carrying out photosynthesis.
- They hang vertically to be exposed by less area to the dry sun making sure that the thick wax coating that gives them their typical grey colouration stays waxy.
- They also have stomata on both faces of the leaf, this shows a clever way of surface area because it utilizes the whole leaf even though the leaf is small.
Physiological Adaptations:
- They shed part of their canopy to reduce their water intake which is needed in high heat.
- By having a deep root system to store water and nutrients is useful to be able to survive frequent fires.
- Lignotubers are among the roots; they store food and have dormant buds to grow back from its original tree trunk if severely damaged following a fire.
Behavioural adaptations:
- The eucalyptus tree is a genus; there are 300 species within the genus located in a variety of different habitats such as alpine areas, deserts and tropical rainforests. Because of this, they have adapted to the different environments with various features enabling their survival such as a non limited deep root system to access water, hard seed cases, epicormin growth from damaged bark etc.
Below is a diagram showing the places the adaptations occur on the plant.