Manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis)
Description
Eucalyptus viminalis, the manna gum, ribbon gum, white gum, or viminalis, is an Australian eucalypt. It is a straight erect tree, often around 130 feet (40 metres) tall, with rough bark on the trunk and base of larger branches, its upper bark peels away in long "ribbons" which can collect on the branches and surrounding ground. Occasionally it can attain very large sizes. A tree with a recorded diameter of 3.27 metres (10.7 ft) is located at Woodbourne in Marlborough, New Zealand. There is a specimen in Coleraine, Victoria, at location -37.60029, 141.6876, that measures 3.575 metres (11.73 ft) diameter. Eucalyptus viminalis is widely distributed in the cooler areas of Australia where the leaves are the favoured food of koalas.[3] Sap has a 5–15% sugar content which makes it an essential part of the energy budget for arboreal or tree dwelling marsupial mammals like yellow-bellied, sugar and other gliders. Koalas reintroduced to Kangaroo Island impact on native E. viminalis and is part of a A$4,000,000[6] management project from 2005-9.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Myrtales
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Family: Myrtaceae
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Genus: Eucalyptus
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