Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
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Eucalyptus imitans
Illawarra stringybark
Myrtaceae
Forest and woodland. Ranges and tablelands, mainly between the Illawarra Highway and west of Jervis Bay. Occasionally elsewhere.
Tree to 10 m tall. Bark rough, long-fibrous (`stringybark') as far up as 5 cm diameter or smaller branches, pale grey to grey-brown. Bark smooth above. Juvenile stems rough on early growth to about 10-12 pairs of leaves. Juvenile leaves opposite each other for 4 to 6 pairs then alternating up the stems, 2.5-11 cm long, 12-55 mm wide, glossy, green, rough on both surfaces for at most 10 pairs, and often fewer. Adult leaves alternating up the stems, 5-13 cm long, 15-38 mm wide, glossy, green. Flowers white, with 0 petals. Flower clusters 7-15 flowered. Mature flower buds 5–7 mm long, caps slightly longer than the base. Flowers Autumn to Spring. Gumnuts 7-12 mm in diameter. Gumnuts that have dropped their seed have valves that are not very noticeable.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Eucalyptus~imitans (accessed 22 January, 2021)
EUCLID description: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/eucalyptus_imitans.htm (accessed 22 January, 2021)
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