The number of people who know their local eucalypts is rather limited, and this has been the case since Australia was first settled. While some can name a stringybark or a red gum or a box, the proper names of the different species are known by relatively few.
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One of our local 20 or more different eucalypt species is the brown stringybark, which is quite widespread but not well-known.
With the creation of the new regional park (Woowookarung) at Canadian, more interest has been taken in the flora and fauna of that forest, and one of the discoveries there has been the abundance of the brown stringybark.
Very similar in appearance to the messmate, the brown stringybark is often difficult to distinguish from that tree. Its height, shape and bark are identical.
Shown in today’s photo are the large fruits (‘gumnuts’) of the brown stringybark, as well as its adult leaves and one of the distinctively large and rounded juvenile leaves. The fruits and the juvenile leaves are very different from those of the messmate, despite the strong similarity of the mature trees.
The brown stringybark is quite common in the southern half of the new park. It is also common and widespread – along with the messmate – in many parts of the Enfield-Smythesdale forest. Probably most people dismiss it as the messmate.
Although its stiffer, glossier adult leaves sometimes stand out, it is the fruits that identify it positively. These usually need to be sought on the ground beneath the tall-trunked, high-branching trees. Those in the photo are 12 millimetres wide.
The round leaves of young plants are a very useful sign of the brown stringybark’s presence. Young messmates have narrower, more pointed leaves.
About 50 per cent of the adult leaves are oblique (asymmetrical) like those of the messmate.
KESTREL COMMENT
In response to a recent article about nankeen kestrels, a reader has informed us of a resident pair in an industrial complex on the edge of Ballarat. They have been there for at least six years, successfully nesting each year.
The birds roost and nest there unconcerned, above all the activity of people, trucks and forklifts below.
After the chicks have left the nest, the family stays around for a month, then moves away for a couple of months.
Our correspondent reports that the pair of kestrels is always more active and more acrobatic at the start of the breeding season.
It is good to know that these attractive small hawks are able to nest successfully on the edge of Ballarat.