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Eucalyptus aromaphloia L.D.Pryor & J.H.Willis, Victorian
Naturalist 71: 125 (1954) subsp. aromaphloia.
T: 113 mile post, Great Western Hwy (between Buangor and Mt Langi-Ghiran),
Vic., 20 Aug. 1954, L.D.Pryor & J.H.Willis, s.n.; holo:
MEL; iso: BRI, K, NSW.
Tree to 18 m tall. Forming a lignotuber.
Bark rough to small branches, thick, furrowed longitudinally,
dark grey to blackish, densely fibrous, sometimes with horizontal
black scars, smooth branchlets salmon coloured.
Juvenile growth (coppice or field seedlings to 50 cm):
stem rounded in cross-section, slightly warty or smooth; juvenile
leaves usually shortly petiolate, opposite for several pairs then
becoming alternate, elliptical to oblong at first, eventually more
ovate then falcate (the duration of juvenile phases is very variable),
3-7.8 cm long, 0.9-3.5 cm wide, margin entire or crenulate, grey-green,
blue-green or green, only the new growing tips glaucous.
Adult leaves alternate, petiole 0.8-2.2 cm long; blade lanceolate
to falcate, 7.5-20 cm long, 1-2 cm wide, flat (rarely undulate),
base tapering to petiole, margin entire, concolorous, glossy or
dull, green to grey-green, side-veins
greater than 45° to midrib,
moderately to densely reticulate, intramarginal vein parallel to
and well removed from margin, oil glands island or intersectional.
Inflorescences axillary unbranched, peduncles 0.3-0.8 cm
long; buds 7(rarely more), shortly pedicellate, ovoid to fusiform,
green tinged red, scar present, operculum conical, stamens inflexed
or irregularly flexed, anthers cuneate to cuboid, versatile, dorsifixed,
dehiscing by longitudinal slits (non-confluent), style long, locules
3 or 4, the placentae each with 4 vertical ovule rows; flowers white.
Fruit sessile to shortly pedicellate, cup-shaped, obconical
or hemispherical, 0.4-0.7 cm wide, disc raised, valves 3 or 4, strongly
exserted.
Seed brown, reddish brown or grey, 1-2.5 mm long, ovoid or flattened-ovoid,
often pointed at one end, lacunose, dorsal surface shallowly pitted,
hilum ventral.
Cultivated seedlings (measured at ca node 10): cotyledons
bilobed to oblong; stems rounded in cross-section; leaves always
shortly petiolate, opposite for 9 to 16 nodes then alternate, elliptical
to oblong, 3-7 cm long, 0.8-3.5 cm wide, base tapering, apex rounded,
margin subcrenulate, green to bluish green. Leaves ovate by ca node
20.
NOTES
Eucalyptus aromaphloia (Greek aroma, smell and phloios,
bark, refers to the supposed smell of the bark).
E. aromaphloia is a small to medium-sized tree endemic to
Victoria, occurring roughly west from a line between Daylesford
and Anglesea.
E. aromaphloia belongs Eucalyptus
subgenus Symphyomyrtus section Maidenaria, a large
group of species more or less restricted to south-eastern Australia,
characterized by bilobed cotyledons, simple axillary inflorescences,
buds with two opercula, stamens with versatile anthers and flattened
seeds with a ventral hilum. Within this section E. aromaphloia
and 5 other species form series Acaciiformes diagnosed by
the rough bark, juvenile leaves that are soon alternate, glandular
adult leaves, non-swampy habitat, and small, rather flat-topped
fruit. Three of these species are restricted to southern Victoria
and far south-eastern New South Wales and can easily be confused.
E. aromaphloia is distinguished from
E. fulgens , which occurs east from Melbourne to the Driffield
area, by its more or less dull green to blue-green adult leaves
(glossy green in E. fulgens ) and elliptic to linear juvenile
leaves (ovate-lanceolate in E. fulgens ).The third species,
E. ignorabilis , occurs in east Gippsland and far south-eastern
New South Wales, and has a dull, geen-leaved crown and ovate-lanceolate
juvenile leaves and more fibrous, less furrowed rough bark than
either E. aromaphloia or E. fulgens .
Of the remaining three species in series Acaciiformes,
E. acaciiformis and E. nicholii
occur in north-eastern New South Wales and should not be confused.
E. corticosa is very close to E. aromaphloia in all
but distribution (see details below).
E. aromaphloia has been confused
with E. viminalis subsp. cygnetensis , but differs
by the whole trunk being rough-barked, often deeply furrowed like
an ironbark, by the juvenile leaves which taper at the base to a
very short petiole, never stem-clasping.
There
are two subspecies:
subsp. aromaphloia
This has elliptical to oblong usually bluish green juvenile leaves
and occurs from the eastern Grampians east to the Daylesford area
and south to Anglesea.
subsp. sabulosa (Latin sabulosa, sandy, refers to
the habitat).
This subspecies occurs from the central Grampians west to the Little
Desert and south-west to Cavendish and has linear, greener juvenile
leaves. The two subspecies grade into each other. E. corticosa
, a restricted endemic near Rylstone in central western New
South Wales, is very close to subsp. sabulosa and differs
only marginally by usually having smooth bark on the larger branches.
USES
Gums, fuel, honey.
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