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Eucalyptus aromaphloia subsp. sabulosa (Rule) Slee &
Brooker, in Brooker, M.I.H. & Kleinig, D.A., Field Guide
to Eucalypts vol. 1 (1999) 345 (revised edition).
E. sabulosa Rule, Muelleria 9: 138 (1996). T: 23 km
south of Nhill, Victoria, 4 May 1981, G.C.Cornwall 340; holo:
MEL 641778.
Tree to 15 m tall. Forming a lignotuber.
Bark rough to small branches or branches < 8 cm diameter
smooth; rough bark thick, furrowed longitudinally, dark grey to blackish,
densely fibrous, sometimes with horizontal black scars, smooth branches
salmon-coloured, 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 or smooth; juvenile leaves usually
shortly petiolate, opposite for 7 to ca 20 nodes then becoming alternate
(but may revert to opposite for a few nodes), narrowly lanceolate,
narrowly oblong to linear or narrowly falcate 2.5-9 cm long, 0.4-1.2
cm wide, margin entire or crenulate, usually green, new growing tips
not glaucous.
Adult leaves alternate, petiole 0.5-2 cm long; blade narrowly
lanceolate to falcate, 7.5-16 cm long, 1-2 cm wide, base tapering
to petiole, margin entire, concolorous, slightly glossy or dull, 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 0.3-0.7 cm long;
buds 7, pedicellate, ovoid to fusiform, yellow or green, scar present,
operculum conical, stamens inflexed or irregularly flexed, anthers
cuneate or 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 pedicellate or sessile, cup-shaped, hemispherical or
obconical, 0.4-0.6 cm wide, disc raised or level, valves 3 or 4, strongly
exserted.
Seed dark brown or black, 1-2 mm long, ovoid or flattened-ovoid,
usually lacunose, dorsal surface shallowly pitted, hilum ventral.
Cultivated seedlings (measured at ca node 10): cotyledons bilobed
to oblong; stems rounded in cross-section; leaves sessile to shortly
petiolate, opposite for 7 to 20 nodes then alternate, linear to narrowly
oblong, 4-14 cm long, 0.7-2 cm wide, base tapering, apex rounded,
margin subcrenulate, green to greyish green.
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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