This is the month of Eucalyptus! Oil of the Month over at Ourcreativenest.com, a friend was talking about hanging a bunch in her closet, and today it is the topic of my Daily Doodle! My question today is, "Why are some Eucalyptus leaves round and others are pointed?"
Interestingly enough it generally has to do with age! Crazy right? Young and juvenile leaves are round and when the tree matures, the leaves become lanceolate... meaning lance like at the end, oblong and pointed. Young leaves also branch out side by side (left and right) of the stem, whereas juvenile and mature leaves alternate up the stem to the right and left.
Eucalyptus orginated in Australia but has been taken around the world, in some places even becoming an invasive species. Most colder zones only have Eucalyptus with round leaves because the trees never reach maturity because of harsh frost or too cold of weather. Trees in warmer zones can be trimmed and pruned in order to maintain a shorter tree that will keep producing round leaves.
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