Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Eucalyptus polyanthemos

Flower buds and leaves (subsp. polyanthemos). Photographer Jackie Miles, Queanbeyan

Seedling (subsp. vestita). Photographer Jackie Miles

Tree. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Mudjarn Nature Reserve near Tumut

Line drawings (subsp. vestita). h. juvenile (right) and adult (left) leaves; buds and gumnuts. KR Thiele, Australian National Herbarium, © 2021 Royal Botanic Gardens Board, Melbourne, Vic

Common name

Red box

Family

Myrtaceae

Where found

Dry forest and woodland. 

subsp. polyanthemos:  Tablelands, ACT, and Western Slopes. Coast and ranges south of Bega. Occasionally elsewhere.

subsp. vestita:  Western Slopes and east to the western edge of Koscisuzko National Park. Coast, ranges, and tablelands, south of Bega. Occasionally elsewhere.

Notes

Tree to 20 m high. Bark smooth throughout, or with plates or flakes of rough fibrous-flaky ('box'), bark at the base of the trunk, or rough on the trunk and branches, grey or mottled with grey and white patches.  Smooth bark shedding in short ribbons or flakes.  Branchlets glaucous or non-glaucous.  Juvenile leaves opposite each other for 4-6 pairs and then alternating up the stems, 2.5-8 cm long, 18-65 mm wide, dull green to blue-grey, blue-green or grey-green, occasionally glaucous.  Crown often of juvenile to intermediate leaves. Crown leaves alternating up the stems, 3-11 cm long, 15-63 mm wide, dull, green to blue-green or grey-green, or glaucous.  Flowers white, with 0 petals.  Flower clusters 5-7 flowered, forming large compound clusters at the ends of the branchlets, occasionally single flower clusters at the bases of the leaves.  Mature flower buds 3–6 mm long, caps shorter than the base. Outer stamens not producing pollen.  Flowers winter-summer.  Gumnuts 3–6 mm in diameter. Gumnuts that have dropped their seed have valves that are not very noticeable. 

subsp. polyanthemos:  Bark mostly smooth, shedding in large plates or scales. Bark sometimes irregularly rough at the base of the trunk.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

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

subsp. vestita:  Bark rough, `box', on the trunk and larger branches.

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

PlantNET description of species and key to subspecies:   http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Eucalyptus~polyanthemos  (accessed 22 January, 2021)