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Eucalyptus amygdalina Labill., Nov. Holl. Pl. Spec.
2: 14, t. 154 (1806).
T: Van Diemens Land, [Tas.], 1792, J. de Labillardière
s.n.; holo: FI; iso: BM, L, W.
E. salicifolia Cav., Icon
Pl. 4: 24 (1787). T: not cited.
E. glandulosa Desf., Cat.
Pl. Paris. 3rd edn, 284, 408 (1829). T: cultivated in Paris,
France; holo: FI.
Tree to 30 m tall. Forming a lignotuber.
Bark rough on part or all of trunk and to base of large branches,
finely fibrous peppermint type, dark grey to grey-brown, smooth
bark white to grey, or brownish, sometimes with ribbons of decorticated
bark in the upper branches.
Juvenile growth (coppice or field seedlings to 50 cm):
stem rounded in cross-section, warty; juvenile leaves opposite for
10 to 15 nodes then alternate, sessile, lanceolate to falcate, 2.8-5.5
cm long, 0.2-1.1 cm wide, margin entire, green.
Adult leaves alternate, petiole 0.4-2 cm long; blade lanceolate
to linear or slightly falcate, 5.5-12 cm long, 0.4-1.2 cm wide,
base tapering evenly to petiole, margin entire, concolorous, slightly
glossy to dull, bluish green maturing green, venation acute to sub-parallel,
reticulation sparse to absent, intramarginal vein parallel to and
well removed from margin, oil glands few to numerous, island.
Inflorescences axillary unbranched, peduncles 0.4-1 cm long;
buds 11 to 15 or more, pedicellate, clavate, green to yellow, smooth
or slightly warty, scar absent although a depression ring may be
visible at the join of operculum and hypanthium, operculum rounded
to slightly apiculate, stamens inflexed or irregularly flexed, with
or without staminodes, anthers reniform to cordate, versatile, dorsifixed,
dehiscing by (usually) confluent slits, style short or long, locules
3 or 4, the placentae each with 2 vertical ovule rows; flowers white.
Fruit pedicellate, or sessile, cup-shaped to hemispherical,
0.5-0.7 cm wide, disc raised slightly or level to descending, valves
3 or 4, near rim level to enclosed.
Seed brown, 1-2 mm long, pyramidal or obliquely pyramidal
to cuboid, dorsal surface smooth, hilum terminal.
Cultivated seedlings (measured at ca node 10): cotyledons
reniform; stems rounded in cross-section, warty; leaves sessile
and opposite at least 15 nodes, narrowly lanceolate, 3.5-8.5 cm
long, 0.3-1.2 cm wide, base amplexicaul to rounded, green to grey-green.
NOTES
Eucalyptus amygdalina (Latin amygdala, almond, allusion
obscure).
A small to medium-sized, narrow-leaved peppermint tree endemic to
Tasmania where it is widespread in the drier, north-eastern half
of the island, from coastal areas extending well inland to the edges
of plateaux.
The bark of E. amygdalina is rough over the whole trunk unlike
that in the closely related E. pulchella which has
the narrowest leaves of all the peppermints. The bark in northern
forms of E. pulchella may be rough in the lower half of
the trunk. The seedling leaves of E. amygdalina are notable
for the almost complete lack of oil glands.
Eucalyptus amygdalina belongs to Eucalyptus subgenus
Eucalyptus section Aromatica (the peppermints) because
the buds have a single operculum, anthers are reniform, ovules are
in 2 rows, seeds are ± pyramidal, adult leaf venation is
acute to sub-parallel (rarely parallel) and juvenile leaves are
sessile and opposite for many pairs. Within this section, E.
amygdalina belongs to an endemic Tasmanian series of 6 species,
series Insulanae, with the other species being E. pulchella
, mentioned above; E. tenuiramis , a smooth barked tree
with crown of mixed opposite, petiolate intermediate leaves and
alternate, petiolate, adult leaves, and connate juvenile leaves
on coppice growth; E. risdonii , also smooth-barked
but with a glaucous crown of opposite, sessile, often connate juvenile
leaves; E. nitida , a rough or partly
rough-barked tree species (rarely almost smooth), with a crown of
adult, petiolate leaves generally broader than E. amygdalina;
and E. coccifera , a smooth barked
species of cold, high areas, with elliptical to cordate (non-connate)
juvenile leaves and a crown of fully adult leaves. The only other
peppermint species found in Tasmania is the more distantly related,
common mainland species, E. radiata
subsp. radiata , a rough-barked, tall, forest tree restricted,
in Tasmania, to the Lemonthyne area. It has a narrow-leaved crown
of adult leaves and narrowly lanceolate juvenile leaves with numerous
oil glands.
USES
Light construction, joinery, fencing, gums, fuel and oils.
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