Di Bell

For their last field day for the year, the Point Sturt and Districts Land Care Group visited the Currency Creek Arboretum (CCA) where Dean Nicolle conducted a tour of his 32.5 hectares project where he is growing several hundred eucalypts species.

Dean established the CCA in 1992 as a specialist eucalypt arboretum where research including eucalypt systematics, taxonomy, ecology, physiology, cultivation and conservation can be undertaken. Di Bell was interested to learn of his research, which amongst other things, provides an important guide as to which trees will flourish in which environments, which ones sequester carbon, and which ones can be harvested for wood, oils and dyes.

Most other collections plant only one specimen and if that dies that species is unrepresented. Dean plants four of everything. He records his collection points with a GPS location and each has a full herbarium voucher. His books, like Eucalypts of South Australia (1997), provide clear photographs and descriptions. For more details about publications, research, Dean Nicolle and the CCA visit http://www.dn.com.au/.