South Africa's magnificent gum trees

Since the 1830s, over 85 gum tree species have been successfully introduced to South Africa. Mike Burgess writes about the gum's destructive, invasive tendencies, but also its many gifts to South Africans.

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I recently spent some time in the southern Free State where my father-in-law, Kobus, was groaning about his inability to successfully eradicate resilient gum trees on his farm Koesberg.

It is incredible to think that these gums, endemic to the Australasian region, are members of a vast family of over 900 different species from predominantly three genera - Angophora, Corymbia and Eucalyptus - that were known collectively as eucalypts.

The drawbacks of these invasive gums are numerous, including a reputation to deplete water resources, displace indigenous biodiversity, and fuel regional veld fires, yet eradication programmes are less extreme than what one would expect for a declared alien plant.

In fact, factors including location, tree size and specific gum species are all assessed before eradication is contemplated.

But it is the gum tree's cultural and historical significance in South Africa that is arguably this exotic tree's greatest gift to us.

Gums have become our most common mega-tree dominating landscapes in ways that just big trees can.