Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Eucalyptus moluccana

Common name

Grey box, Gum-topped box

Family

Myrtaceae

Where found

Forest and grassy woodland. Coast, ranges, and tablelands, north from Jervis Bay.

Notes

Tree to 30 m tall.  Bark rough on part or all of the trunk, fibrous-flaky or tessellated ('box'), thin, grey or mottled with grey and white patches.  Smooth bark above, shedding in long to short ribbons, often shiny.  Juvenile stems rounded in cross section. Juvenile leaves opposite each other for 3 to 7 pairs, then alternating up the stems, 4-8 cm long, 25–65 mm wide, dull, green to grey-green, upper and lower surfaces different colours.  Adult leaves alternating up the stems, 7-17 cm long, 15-65 mm wide, glossy, green. Flower clusters 7-flowered or sometimes more, forming compound clusters at the end of the branchlets, sometimes forming compound clusters at the base of the leaves.  Flowers white, with 0 petals.  Mature flower buds 4–9 mm long, caps shorter than the base.  Flowers most of the year.  Gumnuts 3-6 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~moluccana  (accessed 22 January, 2021)

EUCLID description:  https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/eucalyptus_moluccana.htm  (accessed 22 January, 2021)