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Re: Seeds from "Snow Gum"

At 09:57 PM 11/3/97 -0800, you wrote:
>A gentleman here in Victoria, B.C. Canada who has made quite a study of
>Eucalyptus hardiness in our conditions (Zone 8 - short summer
>Mediterranean) claims that the true E pauciflora subspecies niphophylla
>from the mountains (beware of sloppy seed collecting, says he) is one of
>about 3 really reliable Eucalypts here.  Some others, often claimed to be
>hardy, are prone to being cut to the ground in our occasional Arctic
>outbreaks.

E pauciflora ssp pauciflora grows at higher altitudes than ssp niphophila --
it is the most cold-tolerant tree on the mainland of Australia -- up to
nearly 2000 m altitude in the Snowy Mountains.  Other eucalypts that grow in
the Australian snow country (not quite so high) are alpine ash and mountain
ash, and green sally and black sally.

In Tasmania, E pauciflora grows at lower altitudes -- what they call
"snowgums" there is a different species of eucalypt entirely I believe. (Gay
Kloc will no doubt tell us about it.) 

John


>>
>>
>>At 12:33 PM 11/4/97, John Atkinson wrote:
>>>At 08:00 AM 11/3/97 -0500, Matt Trahan wrote:
>>>
>>>> I was given 9 pinhead size seeds that a friend said was from Snow Gum or
>>>>(their spelling) Eucalyptus Niphophylla.
>>>
>>>Current nomencluture is E pauciflora subspecies niphophylla, I believe. (Not
>>>sure of the spelling either!)
>>>
>>>> He also mentioned that it would be
>>>>nice if he could figure out how to germinate them.  sigh.
>>>>SGAP mention several suggestions from fire to smoke water to simple
>>>>abration.
>>>
>>>No!!  Snowgums grow at high altitudes and don't usually have to worry about
>>>bushfires.  (When they do get one, they suffer badly.)  And abrasion, though
>>>appropriate for many Australian plants, is not for eucalypts and other
>>>Myrtaceae -- their seeds don't have a hard coating and are too small anyway.
>>>
>>>>Could anyone suggest which would be the correct method or combination?
>>>
>>>Snowgums drop their seeds in autumn but (unlike many eucalypts) they do not
>>>germinate till the following spring.  Apparently a period of below-freezing
>>>temperatures is necessary to get them started.  I believe that experiments
>>>have shown that storing them at low temperatures for several weeks does in
>>>fact improve germination very markedly.
>>>
>>>> I live in USDA zone 8, min temps 13-18 degrees farenheight. Should I
>>>>consider doing this outside? Our temps are running 55-70 highs and 35-50
>>>>lows right now. Should have first frost any day now.
>>>
>>>I think you could well plant them now in little pots outside and expect them
>>>to germinate in the spring.  Alternatively, put them in the freezer for a
>>>while and plant them when it's starting to warm up again.  If you've only
>>>got 9 seeds, the latter would be safer I think.
>>>
>>>Good luck
>>>
>>>John
>>
>>
>>
>
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