THERE are several huge Eucalyptus  trees in the National Park. The Eucalyptus tree can grow to a height of over one hundred feet.

This plant is however, becoming more popular each year at Christmas-time  not as a tree but as a cut plant in a flower arrangement that adds  colour to indoor decorations and the feature  that it is most famous for, its sweet fragrant smell.
“People can tell you are the owner of a floral arrangement with  Eucalyptus  the minute they enter your home. The fresh, clean aroma will fill your home for days,”  local horticulturalist  Nesha  Deonauth said last week.
Nesha, a popular vendor, said  the demand for Eucalyptus cuttings has been growing in recent years as more and more people discover the beauty of its foliage and the  incredible aroma of the plant both indoors and outdoors.
She said most sales of the arrangements with the  Eucalyptus are at Christmas-time
The Eucalyptus, a member  of the genus of flowering trees  myrtle and a few shrubs dominate the tree flora of Australia with  more than 700 species  mostly native to Australia, and a very small number  in adjacent areas of New Guinea and Indonesia.
Only fifteen species occur outside Australia, and only nine do not occur in Australia.
Species of Eucalyptus are   cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics including North and South America, Europe, Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East, China and the Indian Subcontinent.
A more well known use for the plant  is the production of Eucalyptus oil in which the leaves are steam distilled to extract the oil  with China being the largest commercial producer.
The Eucalyptus  oil has  been touted as having therapeutic, perfumery, flavouring, antimicrobial and biopesticide properties.
Nesha Deonauth explained that there are several varieties of the Eucalyptus  but they generally fall into two main categories:  those with long slim leaves and those with round leaves.
Her shop ‘Nesha’s Flowerland’, has  fresh  cuttings of the Eucalyptus with  round  green leaves with a silvery look – called in some countries the ‘Silver Dollar Eucalyptus’ and known locally as the  ‘Dime Eucalyptus’.
The Eucalyptus at Nesha’s Flowerland are part of Christmas Center Pieces of fresh plants comprising the holly, the douglas fir, the Norfolk pine, the poinsettia and ferns.
These exotic pieces are to be on sale from mid-December.
Nesha said the  arrangements of fresh flowers   can last long after Christmas once properly tended .
The ‘Silver Dollar Eucalyptus’ or ‘Dime Eucalyptus’,  in particular, can  last as an interior decoration for up to a year.
The Dime Eucalyptus can last for over a year as an eye pleasing interior decoration even though it will lose its fragrance after a few weeks.
The British poet John Beverley Nichols (9 September 1898 – 15 September 1983)  once said that to be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat.
More information on the sweet smelling   silver dollar Eucalyptus as part of a floral arrangement of fresh cut plants  for Christmas can be had from Nesha’s Flowerland  at 223 Wellington and South Road Lacytown. (Tel # 225-3315).