 |
Eucalyptus acmenoides Schauer in W.G.Walpers, Repert. Bot. Syst. 2: 924 (1843).
T: Castle Hill, N.S.W., 14 Jan. 1817, A.Cunningham 20; iso:
K, MEL.
Medium sized or tall tree to 45 m. Forming a lignotuber.
Bark rough to small branches, fibrous, grey or grey-brown, held in flattish strips rather than like typical stringybark.
Juvenile growth (coppice or field seedlings to 50 cm):
stem rounded in cross-section, smooth; juvenile
leaves opposite and sessile for several to many pairs before becoming
alternate and petiolate, ovate, 5.5-14 cm long, 2-7 cm wide, discolorous,
glossy, green.
Adult leaves alternate, petiole 0.9-1.7 cm long;
blade lanceolate, 7-13 cm long, 1.2-3.5
cm wide, base oblique or tapering to petiole, margin entire, discolorous,
glossy, green, side-veins greater than 45° to midrib, moderately
to densely reticulate, intramarginal vein parallel to and just within
margin or well removed from it, oil glands island and intersectional.
Inflorescences terminal, or axillary unbranched, peduncles
1-1.9 cm long, 11 to 15 flowered; buds pedicellate, ovoid to fusiform,
green to yellow, scar absent, operculum conical or sometimes beaked,
stamens irregularly flexed or inflexed, anthers reniform to cordate,
versatile, dorsifixed, dehiscing by confluent slits, style long, locules
3-5 each with two vertical ovule rows; flowers white.
Fruit pedicellate, barrel-shaped, hemispherical or cup-shaped,
0.4-0.8 cm wide, disc descending, valves 3-5, enclosed.
Seed brown, 1-2.5 mm long, pyramidal or obliquely pyramidal,
dorsal surface smooth, hilum terminal.
Cultivated seedlings (measured at ca node 10): cotyledons reniform;
stems rounded in cross-section; leaves sessile, opposite for at least
9 nodes, lanceolate, 8-14 cm long, 2-4 cm wide, base amplexicaul,
margin entire, discolorous, glossy, green.
NOTES
Eucalyptus acmenoides (resemblance to the genus Acmena).
A medium-sized to tall forest tree occurring from north of Sydney
through coastal New South Wales to Proserpine in northern Queensland.
It has fibrous bark held in flattish strips, slightly discolorous
adult leaves with dense reticulation. Juvenile leaves are large, ovate
and opposite for many pairs and are conspicuous in the field. Inflorescences
are clustered towards the ends of the branchlets. It is related to
four other white mahoganies (section Amentum), E. apothalassica
, E. psammitica , E. umbra and E. carnea which have concolorous leaves.
Eucalyptus acmenoides belongs to Eucalyptus subgenus
Eucalyptus, because the buds have a single operculum, the anthers
are reniform, ovules are in 2 rows and the seeds are ± pyramidal.
The five species forming section Amentum are recognised principally
by the extensive rough bark which is in flattish strips, the clustering
of inflorescences towards the ends of branchlets, the densely reticulate
venation of the adult leaves, and the opposite, sessile juvenile leaves,
which may indicate some affinity with the blackbutts (section Pseudophloius)
and the peppermints (section Aromatica).
USES
Poles, sleepers, bridge and wharf construction, stumps, plates, flooring,
joists, weatherboards and honey.
|
|
|
