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Eucalyptus agglomerata Maiden, J. & Proc. Roy. Soc. New
South Wales 55: 266 (1922).
T: Hill Top, N.S.W., Jan. 1896, J.H. Maiden s.n.; holo: NSW.
E. subcaerulea K.D.Hill, Telopea 7: 195 (1997). T: New South
Wales: Northern Tablelands: Cooraldooral trig., Gibralter Range
State Forest, 28 Oct. 1996, K.D.Hill 4889 & P.G.Richards;
holo: NSW; iso: AD, BRI, CANB, HO, K, L, MEL, MO.
Tree to 40 m tall. Forming a lignotuber.
Bark rough to small branches, stringy or fibrous, dark grey
or grey-brown.
Juvenile growth (coppice or field seedlings to 50 cm):
stem rounded in cross-section, scabrid at first, becoming smooth;
juvenile leaves petiolate, opposite, conspicuously undulate and
discolorous for 3 to 6 pairs, initially scabrid-hairy above and
below but soon smooth above and scabrid only on margins and midrib,
becoming glabrous, alternate, ovate, 3.5-11 cm long, 2-5 cm wide,
margin entire, glossy, green.
Crown usually blue-green.
Adult leaves alternate, petiole 0.6-1.8 cm long; blade lanceolate
to falcate, 7-14 cm long, 1.4-3 cm wide, base oblique or tapering
evenly to petiole, margin entire, concolorous or slightly discolorous,
glossy, green to blue-green, side-veins
acute, sparsely to moderately
reticulate, intramarginal vein parallel to and just within margin
or well removed from it, oil glands island.
Inflorescences axillary unbranched, peduncles 0.4-1.5 cm
long; buds 11 to 15, pedicellate or sessile, fusiform to diamond-shaped,
green to yellow, smooth or scurfy, scar absent, operculum conical,
stamens irregularly flexed, anthers reniform to cordate, versatile,
dorsifixed, dehiscing by confluent slits, style long, locules 3
or 4, the placentae each with 2 vertical ovule rows; flowers white
or cream.
Fruit sessile, compressed-hemispherical with sides deformed
by crowding, 0.5-1 cm wide (and usually broader than long), disc
raised or level, valves 3 or 4, near rim level or enclosed.
Seed black or brown, 1.5-2.5 mm long, pyramidal or obliquely
pyramidal, dorsal surface smooth or shallowly pitted, hilum terminal.
Cultivated seedlings (measured at ca node 10): cotyledons
reniform; stems rounded in cross-section, densely stellate-hairy;
leaves always petiolate, opposite for 3 to 6 nodes then alternate,
ovate, 6-11 cm long, 3.5-7 cm wide, base rounded or tapering, margin
irregular and conspicuously undulate, slightly discolorous, green
glossy, stellate-hairy.
NOTES
Eucalyptus agglomerata (Latin agglomeratus, collected
in a head, of the fruits).
A small to medium-sized stringybark tree of eastern Victoria and
coastal and subcoastal New South Wales, north to Correbare State
Forest.
E. agglomerata is notable for the bluish green canopy although
the individual leaves are glossy green on inspection. Another stringybark
with a similar-coloured crown but much less abundant is E. mackintii
which is endemic to eastern Victoria. The fruits of E.
agglomerata, unlike those of E. mackintii , are crowded
and flattened along their sides through compression. The leaves
are prominently glandular contrasting with those of E. mackintii
which can be almost devoid of oil glands. E. tindaliae is
another stringybark with a bluish crown but never has crowded fruit
and occurs well north of E. agglomerata. E. blaxlandii
, another stringybark from the Central and Southern tablelands
of New South Wales, can be distinguished from E. agglomerata
by its smooth branches, green crown and less-compressed fruit.
Eucalyptus agglomerata belongs to Eucalyptus subgenus
Eucalyptus section Capillulus series Pachyphloius
(the stringybarks), being trees with coarsely fibrous, stringy bark,
shortly emergent oil glands with obvious radiating hairs on stems
and lower leaves of seedlings and juvenile growth, axillary inflorescences
with buds having only one operculum and reniform anthers,
ovules are in 2 rows, and ±
pyramidal seeds.
In general many stringybarks are difficult to identify to species
with certainty. In this edition of EUCLID we recognize 26 species
in southern Australia. The stringybarks can be divided into 5 groups
as follows -
1. Buds pedicellate, clavate - E. muelleriana , E. laevopinea
.
2. Buds pedicellate, operculum beaked - E. macrorhyncha subsp.
macrorhyncha and E. macrorhyncha subsp. cannonii.
3. Buds more or less sessile, angular longitudinally - E. mackintii
, E. williamsiana , E. boliviana , E. youmanii , E. capitellata
, E. camfieldii , E. bensonii.
4. Buds with tapering pedicels or sessile, fusiform to narrowly
ovoid - E. cameronii , E. globoidea , E. caliginosa , E. eugenioides
, E. sparsifolia , E. tenella , E. mckieana , E. ligustrina , E.
tindaliae , E. agglomerata.
5. Buds more or less sessile, opercula flat to obtuse or rarely
acute - E. baxteri , E. blaxlandii , E. imitans , E. verrucata
, E. serraensis .
Eucalyptus arenacea is a somewhat
anomolous stringybark as its buds are pedicellate and more or less
clavate, and on the above criteria, may be placed in group 1 but
it is widely regarded as being close to E. baxteri
of group 5.
USES
General building construction, fencing and honey.
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