eucalypts

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EUCALYPTS

Eucalyptus spp.
Eucalyptus spp. of the family Myrtaceae

"Eucalypts" is the generic name given to species in the genus Eucalyptus in Australia where they grow (although not exclusively). Eucalyptus species are almost entirely native to Australia, with a few being native to New Guinea and Indonesia. None are native elsewhere in the world but several grow in other places. There are species that grow in Florida (Eucalyptus robusta) and California (Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus tereticornis) in addition to being native to Australia.

A NOTE ABOUT ACACIAS AND THE EUCALYPTS
For the genera Acacia and Eucalyptus I have broken my general rule for this site, which is that it is intended to show woods that are at least somewhat readily available to the North American woodworker. For these two genera, because of the plethora of different species samples loaned to my by David Clark, I have decided to put pics of all such up on the site even though most of the woods shown are quite obscure, particularly in North America. Other than being species in one of those two genera, the woods on this page do not necessarily have any relation to each other and may have significantly different characteristics.

I had a good chuckle when I looked through David Clark's "Timber in Australia" and found that he doesn't even LIST a wood with the common name eucalyptus. In Australia, saying "eucalyptus" is not much different than saying "wood" or "tree", so the fact that in the USA you can sometimes find a wood listed as just "eucalyptus" is not particularly helpful. My own incomplete database lists 742 different species of eucalyptus and all I know for sure is that wood commonly sold in the USA, both as veneer as as lumber, as just "eucalyptus" is likely one of the following, but could be others as well.

Eucalyptus grandis, also sold as red gum eucalyptus, rose gum eucalyptus, and Australian red gum and shown on the page you are now reading
Eucalyptus globulus, often sold as blue gum, which is on this site as blue gum but also seen in the USA as Florida eucalyptus

Based on the pics that I have available, I have broken out separate pages as follows for some of the specifically named eucalypts, many of which have numerous species that use the same common name in which cases I have specified them here as "Eucalyptus spp." but the individual page for the wood may narrow it down quite a bit:

blackbutt / Eucalyptus spp.
blue gum / Eucalyptus globulus (probably the most common of all eucalypts)
blue gum, sydney / Eucalyptus saligna
collibah / Eucalyptus spp.
corrugata / Eucalyptus corrugata
jarrah / Eucalyptus marginata
karri / Eucalyptus diversicolor
lyptus / Eucalyptus grandis x urophylla (hybrid)
mallee / Eucalyptus spp.
morrel / Eucalyptus spp.
redgum, river / Eucalyptus camaldulensis (and a few others) which is what is sold in the U.S. as red gum eucalyptus and river red eucalyptus
redgum, forest / Eucalyptus tereticornis, which is native to Australia but also grows in California
tasmanian oak / Eucalyptus spp.
yellowbox / Eucalyptus spp.
york gum / Eucalyptus spp.

All other eucalyptus varieties are on THIS page, including items listed as just "red eucalpytus", which presumably are Eucalyptus ficifolia as opposed to one of the "redgum, river" species.

Vastly complicating the naming among the eucalyptus varieties is the fact that English speaking settlers to Australia named various eucalyptus varieties for familiar trees such as ash, oak, maple, walnut, and so forth, even though there was no botanical relationship between the native tree and the name used.

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of rose gum eucalyptus / Eucalyptus grandis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Mark tells me this one is likely all heartwood whereas the one directly below is likely all sapwood.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of rose gum eucalyptus / Eucalyptus grandis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Mark tells me this one is likely all sapwood whereas the one directly above is likely all heartwood.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Florida eucalyptus / Eucalyptus robusta

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Florida eucalyptus / Eucalyptus robusta --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of white gum / Eucalyptus dorrigoensis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of brittle gum / Eucalyptus mannifera --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of brown gum / Eucalyptus deanei --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Steedman's gum / Eucalyptus steedmanii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of gympie messmate / Eucalyptus cloeziana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of messmate stringybark / Eucalyptus obliqua --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

This plank was found in a lot of red cedar by John Saxon of The Cedar Store. It emphatically isn't red cedar but neither John nor I could figure out what it was. It spent a while on the mystery wood page, then I sent a piece to the USDA lab and they identified it as eucalyptus, at which point I had a "DOH!" moment since I should have seen that myself, although I was not at that time very familiar w/ the eucalypts.

a smaller piece, and end grain, cut from the plank above

end grain and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above

both sides of a stick of eucalyptus. Not sure where I got this, might have been pallet wood --- HUGE enlargements are present.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank sold to me as just eucalyptus / Eucalyptus spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of alpine ash / Eucalyptus delegatensis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of prickly stringybark / Eucalyptus consideniana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of white stringybark / Eucalyptus globoidea --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Although you can't see it in the pics, there is a very light mottle figure on this piece and it is lightly chatoyant

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of white gum (aka broad-leaved kindling bark) / Eucalyptus dalrympleana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of yellow gum / Eucalyptus leucoxylon --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of sugar gum / Eucalyptus cladocalyx --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of swamp mallet / Eucalyptus spathulata --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of bangalay / Eucalyptus botryoides --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. NOTE: this species is one of about 100 Eucalyptus spp. that belong to the group Corymbosae. This group has such significantly different botanical characteristics that it has been split off into a new genus, Corymbia spp. As you can see from the end grain update below, the fine grain structure does not look at all like Eucalyptus spp., having, as it does, considerable confluent parenchyma (almost to the point of being banded parenchyma). This splitting off into a new genus is contentious among botanists and so will not be seen everywhere and to add to the confusion, The Plant List DOES list the Corymbia spp species but does not include Eucalyptus botryoides as being among them. Still, what matters to us as woodworkers is that this does NOT have the fine grain characteristics of the Eucalyptus species

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Queensland ash / Eucalyptus montivaga --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of silver leaved box / Eucalyptus pruinosa --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of quartersawn shining gum / Eucalyptus nitens --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of brownbarrell / Eucalyptus fastigata --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of grey ironbark / Eucalyptus drepanophylla --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of red ironbark / Eucalyptus sideroxylon --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

NOT A RAW WOOD COLOR --- both faces of this sample have a light coat of clear paste wax
both sides of a sample plank of Thozet's box / Eucalyptus thozetiana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of pink gum / Eucalyptus fasciculosa --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of apple topped box / Eucalyptus angophoroides --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of broad leaved kindling bark / Eucalyptus dalrympleana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank identified only as a Eucalpyt piece from a packing crate / Eucalyptus spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of quartersawn Mindanao gum / Eucalyptus deglupta --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. LATER: David tells me that this wood is either very juvenile wood or it is not E. Degulpta, which is a very strong red as shown this pic which he provided:

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Molloy red box / Eucalyptus leptophleba --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Wilkinson stringybark / Eucalyptus eugenioides --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of island bloodwood / Eucalyptus nesophila --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. I note that this is one of the eucalypts that has been reclassified (by some) into a new genus, Corymbia and for them (and this includes The Plant List which I use as an authority), Eucalyptus nesophila is just a synonym for the new name, Corymbia nesophila. Unlike the other of such reclassified eucalypts that I have experienced, this one has an end grain that is like other eucalypts, not like the other Corymbias. See, for example, bangalay / Eucalyptus botryoides also on this page.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of tallowood / Eucalyptus microcorys --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of gimlet / Eucalyptus salubris --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of grey box, Eucalyptus moluccana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of (Australian) red mahogany / Eucalyptus resinifera --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of bee's wing eucalyptus / Eucalyptus spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The first side is freshly sanded and the second side still has an age patina.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of an unknown eucalyptus / Eucalyptus spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was sent to me for identification. I'm confident that it is a Eucalypt but of course I have no idea which of the 18 million different ones it might be.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of unknown eucalyptus / Eucalyptus spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet to try to ID it. It's clearly a eucalypt but I have no idea which one of the many many hundreds of species it might be. It weights about 56 lbs/cuft. The first face is sanded to 150 grit and the second is untouched (by me).

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of a piece sold to me as red gum eucalyptus (so, presumably Eucalyptus grandis)

both sides of a piece of black box / Eucalyptus bicolor burl loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. HUGE enlargements are present. This is a very dense burl and although you can't tell it from the pics, the first face has been sanded to a mirror finish.

end grain of the burl directly above

both sides of a burl of red mallee / Eucalyptus socialis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This is a very dense burl and although you can't tell it from the pics, the first face has been sanded to a mirror finish.

end grain of the burl directly above

Eucalyptus deglupta at a lumber yard in Australia

planks, identified as Eucalyptus grandis, photographed at a lumber yard

both sides of a mottle-figured plank; pics submitted by Neal Kuwabara. This mottle is sharp enough to where if it were a little more regular it would probably be better called razor mottle --- some vendors would call it razor mottle as is.

pomelle figure veneer just listed as eucalyptus; color is accurate. Although this was sold to me as "pomelle figure" it really looks more curly than pomelle. This is one of the woods where the "figure" is variously represented as "mottled", "pomelle", beeswing", "curly", and just "figured", with little to no consistency among dealers. Beeswing generally has a very strong mottle, but is a term that is subject to mis-application for this species, although the species DOES have a true beeswing figure available.

mottled veneer listed as just eucalyptus

veneer sample labled as just eucalyptus so that it is probably Eucalyptus grandis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION D

figured veneer listed as just eucalyptus. The 2nd piece was sold as beeswing figure, and I consider that to be a valid representation of this figure although actually it is not a very tight beeswing figure and is really more like what is commonly sold as "basket weave" mottle.

three pieces of "figured" veneer that really don't have any figure to speak of, just a wildly optimistic description by a vendor. Actually some of the veneer from this lot had a little more figure than these, but not much.

this is the same three pieces as directly above, but shown all together just to emphasize the color differences from tannish (top) to pink (middle) and one in between (bottom)

bee's wing veneer --- the color on these is too brown --- the actual wood is definitely more yellow than is shown here --- about like the pomelle figure veneer shown up above this.

veneer listed as red eucalyptus. the color on these should be a little closer to brick red. Not listed as figured, but has an obvious mottle figure which is common to eucalyptus in general. This is presumably Eucalyptus ficifolia as opposed to any of the species that are listed on this site in the "redgum, river" page.

burl veneer

eucalyptus burl veneer --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sheet was contributed to the site by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions.

listed as Tasmanian eucalyptus "teardrop" veneer --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sheet was contributed to the site by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions. I think the "teardrop" is just something the vendor decided to call this, not any standard designation. Some vendors would list this as "bird's eye", which it is not.

web pics:

planks just listed as eucalyptus, some listed as figured

planks listed as flooded gum / Eucalyptus grandis

plank listed as rosegum eucalyptus

planks listed as grey gum / Eucalyptus propinqua

planks listed as grey ironbark / Eucalpytus paniculata

plank listed as ironbark / Eucalyptus indurata

plank listed as blackbutt / Eucalpytus pilularis

plank listed as New England blackbutt / Eucalpytus andrewsii

plank listed as grey box / Eucalpytus spp.

plank listed as spotted gum / Eucalpytus maculata

planks listed as tallowwood / Eucalpytus microcorys

plank listed as Western Australian blackbutt / Eucalyptus patens. I have no experience with this wood but I think that this color is unlikely.

eucalyptus scales

scales listed as fiddleback eucalyptus

scales listed as mottled eucalyptus

plank listed as red mahogany eucalyptus / Eucalyptus resinifera

planks listed as eucalyptus robusta (which has many common names, including Florida eucalyptus)

both sides of a plank not even listed as figured, although it obviously is, and very nicely so.

fiddleback planks

pen blank listed as curly eucalyptus

fiddleback pen blanks

curly planks just listed as eucalyptus

both sides of a mottled plank just listed as eucalyptus

mottled plank just listed as eucalyptus

plank listed as bee's wing eucalyptus and the same plank moistened for the pic. This mottle is actually much too vague to deserve the bee's wing designation.

plank that has undoubtedly been moistened for the pic and even then, I'm not sure about the intensity of the color

figured planks that have been moistened for the picture --- actual color is visible on the edge grain

burls

waxed burl bowl blanks listed as just eucalyptus

waxed bowl blanks listed as "resin burl" eucalyptus

veneer

veneer --- although not so marked, this looks like what is normally sold as pomelle veneer

listed as pomelle veneer, this sheet looks more like what is normally sold as a burl veneer. See down below on this page for a lot more pics of burl veneer.

pomelle veneer

pomelle veneer sheets and a closeup

pomelle veneer, all from the same vendor

pomelle veneer

pomelle veneer sheet closeups with both levels of enlargement available. These are both from the same vendor as those directly above.

veneer with a figure listed as "blistered pomelle"

veneer, not marked as anything in particular, but clearly is what is normally sold as bee's wing veneer

figured veneer sold as just eucalyptus

quartersawn figured veneer

quartersawn veneer just listed as eucalyptus --- the first was listed as just "figured" and the 2nd as "strong figure" (these are almost certainly blue gum eucalyptus but since I don't know that for sure, they stay on this misc page)

ribbon stripe veneer

all of these sheets were listed as bee's wing veneer but as you can see, some of them are a really strong bee's wing pattern and some of them are more of a plain mottle.

bee's wing veneer from a vendor whose pics make most woods look green, regardless of the actual color of the wood

"blush" eucalyptus (same as "red" ?)

red eucalyptus --- 1st pic is a plank, 2nd is veneer (and this wasn't even listed as "red" eucalyptus, although it obviously is)

figured red eucalyptus plank and closeup --- I'm not sure about the color on this one and it does appear to have been moistened for the pics. Figure is curly/fiddleback

listed as figured red euclayptus plank (figure is mottle)

red eucalyptus, bee's wing veneer --- I had previously not seen this wood and so had a statement here that I wasn't sure about the color, but I was informed by Shane Dohnt (who sells such wood in Australia) that the colors are indeed accurate, and then more recently I obtained some of the veneer myself (see my own samples above; mine isn't bee's wing but does have a mottle figure) and it has a brick red color which is not a vibrant as the wood in this pic but which lends credence to this color (not that I don't believe Shane anyway).

fiddleback plank and closeup listed as "blond" eucalyptus and with the closeup having a ridiculous color that is the kind of thing that got me to start this web site in the first place.