Eucalyptus sideroxylon
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| Eucalyptus sideroxylon A.Cunn. ex Woolls |
Eucalyptus sideroxylon, or Mugga, is an ironbark from central Victoria down through to Melbourne, and into southern NSW. It has dark, furrowed bark, grey gren leaves and pink flowers. It is a very popular ornamental and street tree, Ferntree gully road in Melbourne has a long avenue of Muggas planted giving an interesting alien feel to the street. In the wild Muggas grow on amazingly poor soils, often little more than sandy gravel.
[edit] Uses
The wood is relatively hard and dense, and is often used for firewood. It is has very high resistance to rotting and can be used for fence posts, piers, sleepers. Heartwood dark red, sapwood pale yellow. Very dense, hard, fine grained timber, difficult to work, but polishes to a high sheen. Has been used for furniture, turnery, boat-building, benchtops. Popular as a craft furniture timber during the 1990's and early 2000's, Nicholas Datner famously used ironbark that had been submerged as a wharf pier for 80 years in a range of tables. At about 1130 kg/m3 it is one of the few timbers that will not float.
[edit] Cultivation
Like all Eucalypts, Muggas can not be grown from cutting. They are easy to grow from seed, however, and are usually quite true to the parent in form. They are very hardy, needing less than 400mm of rain per year to survive, yet can grow in climates with more than 1000mm/y.
