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As a child, I spent much of my time at my grandparents' home in Lafayette, California. After I finished my homework and before it got too dark, I would play outside in the backyard. Sometimes I would climb the hill to the treehouse my grandfather built for us, nestled beneath the shade of the eucalyptus trees. Other times I would play basketball on the cracked concrete slab of a court, having to sweep eucalyptus debris off first.
No matter how much time may pass or what changes may occur, my grandparents' house will remain a haven among the hills, guarded by eucalyptus trees.
The eucalyptus around my grandparents' house via Sydney Yap
The Eucalyptus
All eucalyptus trees are members of the Myrtaceae flowering plant family. Eucalyptus trees are often characterized by their blade-shaped, thick leaves. On mature trees, the leaves drop vertically in clusters from branches. However, when they are young, eucalyptus leaves jut out horizontally from the branch. Depending on the type of eucalyptus, leaves can range from a variety of sizes and shapes, but most share an iconic silvery green color.
Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus leaves via Sydney Yap
Spiral eucalyptus leaves via Sydney Yap
Silver dollar eucalyptus leaves via Sydney Yap
In accordance with their family, eucalyptus produce red, white, or pink colored flowers from their seed caps, which are called operculum. The hard, bell-shaped opercula protects eucalyptus seeds and flowers from the outside world. I often had to sweep fallen eucalyptus seeds off the concrete basketball court to prevent an injury. They would have your ankle rolling in one misstep, a testament to the strength of the cap.
Eucalyptus trees are native to Tasmania, Australia, and surrounding islands in the Oceania region. As a result, they thrive in mild to warm climates, such as California. They are drought-tolerant and do not require much water.
The largest species of eucalyptus trees is the Tasmanian gum tree. It can grow to be as tall as 300 feet and as wide as 25 feet in circumference. Eucalyptus are one of the fastest growing trees, averaging an additional three feet in height every year.
Tasmanian gum tree opercula via Sydney Yap
A large Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus via Sydney Yap
Eucalyptus oil via Naturallythinking
Eucalyptus is a valuable source of timber. Its wood can be used for an array of purposes, ranging from fuel to construction. The trees also produce natural oils in their leaves that can be used in medicines. However, these naturally occurring chemicals can be harmful to certain plants and animals.
The various uses of eucalyptus trees make it one of the most useful trees in the global economy. Early California settlers found them equally valuable.
Eucalyptus timber via IndiaMART
California Dreaming
In addition to abundantly surrounding my grandparents’ home, as a child, road-tripping throughout northern California, I noticed how prevalent eucalyptus trees were. It seems like there are eucalyptus trees along every road.
Though they originated in Australia, they were brought to the United States, particularly the Bay Area, by flocks of gold-seeking Australian immigrants. Planting eucalyptus was a popular option because of how they fared in California’s weather, climate, and population growth.
Being drought tolerant, eucalyptus could grow just as fast and tall as they would in water-rich environments. Its size makes it valuable for farmers and landscapers because it provides shade and cover for low-lying ground brush, and can serve as windbreaks.
Early eucalyptus windbreaks via National Park Service
Eucalyptus trees were also found valuable as a quick source of timber because of how fast they grow. Around the late 18th century, people were immigrating to California en masse due to the Gold Rush. Housing and infrastructure struggled to meet the needs of an increased population, leading to a timber shortage, in which fast-growing eucalyptus was gold. If a plot of land had eucalyptus on it, it was almost a guaranteed money-maker. Eucalyptus grew more popular for people buying land shares. Demand for eucalyptus-bearing land exploded, and more were planted.
A Scorching Reputation
As common as they are in the Bay Area, eucalyptus trees are not without their faults. It is well known that California is prone to wildfires raging through dry terrain. Though drought tolerant, eucalyptus can act as fuel for fires because they are highly flammable.
The chemicals produced by the trees result in a slower decay of old bark. As a result, the bark collects on the tree or on the ground in smooth strands. In the event of a fire, they would act as fuel, firewood waiting to be consumed, all propelled by the oil seeping from the trees themselves.
For the eucalyptus tree, a fire isn’t all that bad. They use it as a means of reproduction. When seed caps, opercula, are heated to a high enough temperature, the pods will break open and release the seeds within, scattering them in the wind.
Bark on a eucalyptus trunk via Hardy Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus in the East Bay hills via KALW Bay Area
However, for humans, especially residents of the Bay Area, eucalyptus and fire aren’t as beneficial of a combination. Many long-tenured residents recall the Oakland Firestorm of 1991, one of the most devastating fires in local history. The fire grew so rapidly that firefighters were not prepared to combat the full scale of it.
Eucalyptus played a major role in how fast the fire spread. Due to their highly flammable nature, many witnesses recall the fire feeding on dry eucalyptus bark, leaves, and debris. In a series of interviews conducted by ABC7 News, one witness, Dee Rosario, remembers that the “debris from the eucalyptus was hitting the ground and catching on fire."
After the fire, support for the removal of eucalyptus grew more vocal. According to some groups’ logic, eucalyptus trees were to blame for the magnitude and pace of the fire. Such a result would not have occurred if there weren’t as many dry, highly flammable eucalyptus trees in the area.
Growing Forward
While efforts have been made by various groups to reduce the amount of eucalyptus in the Bay Area since 1991, no significant change has been made for a number of reasons.
There aren’t enough resources to effectively remove eucalyptus. They inhabit such a large portion of the Bay Area (about 40,000 acres) that it would require a tremendous amount of funding, equipment, and workers to remove them effectively.
Though considered moderately invasive, eucalyptus have become naturalized in the Bay Area, meaning that they have adapted to grow in harmony with native plants. Since they were brought to California 200 years ago, eucalyptus trees have integrated themselves into the local environment. Advocates for keeping eucalyptus in the Bay Area suggest there would be harmful effects on the plants and animals that have become dependent on them if they were to be removed.
In terms of their future in California, however hot or dry it might get due to climate change, eucalyptus will be largely unaffected because of their ability to sustain themselves in less favorable conditions. Ad they won’t be naturally mass reproducing anytime soon because they don’t propagate well without human intervention. Eucalyptus will continue to grow where they have already been planted.
Eucalyptus have physically and metaphorically rooted themselves in the Bay Area. They have become synonymous with the essence of the Bay Area. There are eucalyptus trees just about everywhere; in the hills, the coast, and our own backyards.
Eucalyptus lining a South Bay street via WordPress
Eucalyptus in San Francisco via Arborist Now
Eucalyptus grove in California via Inhabitat
A timeline of eucalyptus in California via Sydney Yap
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