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True. Although in their native Australia they grew quite straight. It's the introduced trees that grow not so straight and make bad railroad ties.

In areas where they are introduced, they also become quite invasive by practicing something called alelopathy, whereby they introduce toxins into the soil to prevent competing tree species from taking hold.

While I'm at it, Eucalyptus trees have very very dense wood which means the wood burns very hot. This makes it even worse for forest fires where Eucalyptus trees dominate.

(I knew my botany studies would come in handy someday. I just never knew when!)

by bacheaul10 hours ago|

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Eucalypt forest fires are bad because the leaves are full of oil and when it's hot, dry and windy, they're extremely flammable and the fire races through the tops of the trees at incredible speeds, and jumps across large fire breaks that appear to be wide enough that they should stop it.

But at the same time the wood is also very dense, so makes great campfire wood, but doesn't burn so much in a forest fire, which is a bit ironic...

by mykowebhn2 hours ago|

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I had to verify so I just checked with Claude (I was lazy) and you are correct.

Thanks for pointing this out!

by awesome_dude12 hours ago|

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> While I'm at it, Eucalyptus trees have very very dense wood which means the wood burns very hot. This makes it even worse for forest fires where Eucalyptus trees dominate.

Forgive my ignorance, but I had understood the density of the wood meaning that the trunks of the trees were less likely to burn in a forest fire (which eucalypts encourage by shedding large amounts of dry bark)

by mykowebhn2 hours ago|

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I just learned about this.

Thanks for pointing this out!