Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Eucalyptus radiata
Common name
(subsp. radiata): Narrow-leaved peppermint
(subsp. robertsonii) Robertson's peppermint
Family
Myrtaceae
Where found
subsp. radiata: Forest and woodland, usually in colder, wetter areas. Widespread. Rarely coastal.
subsp. robertsonii: Dry forest and woodland on lighter soils, often on granite. Western Slopes, Kosciuszko National Park, the mountains to the north, ACT, and tablelands. Occasionally in the ranges.
Notes
Tree to 50 m tall. Bark rough on the trunk and branches to about 8 cm diameter, or on all but the smallest branches, finely fibrous ('peppermint'), grey to grey-brown. Smooth bark above, shedding in long ribbons. Juvenile stems rounded in cross section, often warty. Juvenile leaves stalkless and opposite each other for many pairs, 3.3-10 cm long, 5-30 mm wide, dull to slightly glossy, grey-green or blue-grey, or glaucous. Adult leaves 4.5-15 cm long, 6-28 mm wide, glossy or dull, green to blue-green or blue-grey or almost glaucous. Flowers white, with 0 petals. Flower clusters 7-20+ flowered. Mature flower buds 3–6 mm long, caps shorter than the base. Flowers spring-summer. Gumnuts 4-7 mm in diameter. Gumnuts that have dropped their seed have valves that are not very noticeable.
subsp. radiata: Has a dense crown of narrow, usually glossy green leaves and green juvenile leaves that can be particularly narrow. Juvenile leaves 5-20 mm wide, adult leaves 6-15 mm wide. flower buds green to yellow.
PlantNET description (as Eucalyptus radiata): https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Eucalyptus~radiata (accessed 1 May 2021)
EUCLID description: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/eucalyptus_radiata_subsp._radiata.htm (accessed 1 May 2021)
subsp. robertsonii: Has a dull, grey-green to blue-green crown, and leaves usually broader at all stages than subsp. radiata. Juvenile leaves 7-30 mm wide, adult leaves 6-28 mm wide. flower buds green to yellow or glaucous.
Hybridises with Eucalyptus pauciflora subsp. pauciflora.
Eucalyptus robertsonii in PlantNET.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
PlantNET description (as Eucalyptus robertsonii): http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Eucalyptus~robertsonii (accessed 1 May 2021)
EUCLID description: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/eucalyptus_radiata_subsp._robertsonii.htm (accessed 1 May 2021)
Eucalyptus robertsonii subsp. hemisphaerica is regarded as a doubtful synonym of Eucalyptus radiata subsp. robertsonii by the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria (accessed 1 May 2021)
As Eucalyptus robertsonii subsp. hemisphaerica, which occurs just north of the area covered by this key, Vulnerable Australia and Vulnerable NSW. Provisions of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 No 63 relating to the protection of protected plants generally also apply to plants that are a threatened species.
NSW Threatened Species profile (as Eucalyptus robertsonii subsp. hemisphaerica): http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedSpeciesApp/profile.aspx?id=10311 (accessed 1 May 2021)
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