Eucalyptus pellita: Our Red Mahogany Tree

Eucalyptus pellita is one of the most popular plantation tropical tree species. It has all of the requirements for a commercially successful timber tree, including rapid growth under plantation conditions, straight stems with limited branching and decent wood quality for particular uses and products. Plantation species should also be tolerant of a variety of soils and location conditions, and be resistant to common pests and diseases, requirements Eucalyptus pellita meets readily. Eucalyptus pellita is marketed as red mahogany or large-fruited red mahogany because of its attractive lumber, though it is equally popular as a source tree for the pulp and paper industry. Eucalyptus pellita is tolerant of poor, infertile soils and will grow in sandy or rocky soils, provided they are well drained.

A medium height tropical tree, Eucalyptus pellita can grow to be 40 meters or some 130 feet in height, and  measure approximately 1 meter or 40 inches in diameter at breast height in just 10 years time. The pulp and paper industry harvests this tropical tree after just 7 or 8 years, or when it reaches 35 meters or 115 feet in height. Eucalyptus pellita prefers locations ranging from sea level to 800 meters or 2,625 feet above sea level, with mean annual temperatures from 14⁰ to 34⁰ degrees Celsius (57⁰ to 94⁰ degrees Fahrenheit), and annual rainfall ranging from 900 to 4,000 mm (35.5 to 157.5 inches). The trees preferences are readily met at the Amazonia Reforestation and CO2 Tropical Trees plantations, which are on average 60 meters above sea level, with a mean annual temperature of 26⁰ degrees Celsius or some 80⁰ degrees Fahrenheit, and blessed with 2,400 mm (95 inches) of mean annual rainfall.

Extreme size increases are a feature of Eucalyptus pellita, which is known to achieve growth well in excess of 2 meters a year. Some of the trees planted by Amazonia Reforestation have achieved growth in excess of 6 meters in just their first 12 months after transplantation from our tropical tree nursery. Eucalyptus pellita production rates average 40 cubic meters of wood per hectare per annum, though better managed forestry operations can have production rates exceeding 50 or even 60 cubic meters of wood per hectare per annum. This fast growth is of course important not just from a wood investor’s point of view, but also because of the high carbon sequestration it implies, as discussed at the CO2 Tropical Trees web site.

This exotic wood has numerous potential uses. A full description of Eucalyptus pellita is available in PDF  e-book format for free download at the Amazonia Reforestation web site. Like many of our tropical trees, Eucalyptus pellita is a superb money maker for those making a green investment. It can easily earn returns on investment of 340% over 10 years and do something good for the planet at the same time, because of the tree’s carbon sequestration and cloud seeding properties. All of the plantation pictures in this posting are from our La Pedregoza tree farm in Vichada, Colombia.