Submitted by Deb Kellock on Wed, 22/06/2011 - 02:53
Here's a quote from Tim Flannery. He starts by talking about London plane trees growing in Sydney:
"I have never seen so much as a leaf chewed by an insect on any of them. Eucalypts, in contrast have between 6 to 40 per cent of their leaves damaged by insects. This very high percentage is testimony to the riot of life each eucalypt shelters. Thousands of insects are dependent upon them, which in turn support countless birds and mammals."
(from an essay reproduced in An Explorer's Notebook, by Tim Flannery).
Flannery said he would buy a round at his local pub if anyone could show him a plane tree leaf with an insect bite out of it!
