Commercial Product Information:
Wood chart
Eucalyptus pilularis is one of the most important hardwoods in Australia and the principal species sawn in coastal NSW and south-eastern QLD. Sapwood is resistant to attack by lyctid borers. Heartwood is light brown or yellowish brown, coarse-textured, grain usually straight, small kino (gum) veins common and occasional pinhole borer holes visible.
It is hard, strong and tough but not difficult to work, rather slow drying, with good durability. Timber shrinkage in drying from green to 12% moisture content is about 4% and 7% in the radial and tangential directions, respectively. Wood is used for a range of purposes including: general building construction, flooring, joinery, poles, railway sleepers, fencing, veneer, plywood and firewood. It is also suitable for pulp. Decorative uses include quality furniture, turnery, parquetry, traditional boat, coach and carriage building.
Eucalyptus pilularis is of good to moderate value as a honey tree and is a good pollen producer. Honey normally lacks density and has a rather strong flavour but is used for blending with better quality honeys.
Environmental Services Information:
Useful in windbreaks or in group plantings for stock shelter, but tends to shed branches regularly which may affect its suitability as a shade tree.
Lorikeet eat honey flowers
Valuable for wildlife; flowers are a food source for fruit bats, blossom bats and nectar-feeding birds such as honeyeaters and lorikeets; it is also one of the species of eucalypts eaten by koalas in their natural habitat.
Limiting Factors:
Susceptible to the root fungus Phytophthora spp., so sites must be well drained; susceptible to high mortality rates in the nursery and prone to unexplained mortality soon after planting. Not tolerant of heavy frosts and seedlings will not tolerate other than light frosts; sensitive to long dry periods and very susceptible to drought at planting time.
Prone to windthrow and stem damage when young due to a dense canopy and shallow root system; prone to weed competition in plantations due to slow initial growth rates. Growth stresses in regrowth logs and plantation grown timber can cause excessive splitting and collapse (selection and breeding may reduce this problem).
Diseases and Pests:
Due to widespread planting and use, there is considerable disease and pest information known about this species. It is less susceptible to common insect defoliators than Eucalyptus grandis (Flooded Gum). High and common susceptibility to Xylorictid wood moths; high but uncommon susceptibility to eucalypt sawflies (Perga dorsalis & Pergagrapta spp.). and red-shouldered leaf beetle (Monolepta australis). Moderate and common susceptibility to
Red-shouldered leaf beetle
leaf spot fungi including: target spot (Aulographina eucalypti), mycosphaerella leaf spot (Mycosphaerella cryptica) and marksii leaf spot (Mycosphaerella marksii); susceptible at the seedling stage to the leaf spot disease Cylindrocladium sp.
Moderate but uncommon susceptibility to cup moths (Doratifera sp.), psyllids (Glycaspis spp), and fusicoccum canker (Fusicoccul aesculi).; low and uncommon susceptibility to chrysomelid leaf beetle Paropsis atomaria). Prone to attack by root rot fungi such as Pythium spp. and Phytophthora spp. although this is of isolated occurrence; Phytophthora cinnamomi has caused losses in some plantations in NSW with deaths being concentrated in poorly drained flat areas or on lower slopes.
At present the main opportunities to reduce damage by pests and diseases are provided by management options that maintain the health and vigour of trees and stands at as high a level as possible, such as: the application of timely silvicultural treatment; by not planting the species on sites that are marginal for it; and by regular monitoring for insect damage or unhealthy trees. Eucalyptus pilularis has generally displayed good resistance to pests and diseases when planted on suitable sites.
