Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Eucalyptus saligna
Common name
Sydney blue gum, Blue gum
Family
Myrtaceae
Where found
Wet forest. North from Mogo, south of Batemans Bay. Coast, ranges, and tablelands. See comments under Notes.
Notes
Tree to 55 m tall. Bark on the basal 1-4 m of the trunk rough and flaky, grey to grey-brown. Smooth bark above, shedding in short ribbons or flakes, usually powdery. Juvenile stems rounded in cross section, warty or smooth. Juvenile leaves opposite each other for 4 or 5 pairs then alternating up the stems, 3.7-12 cm long, 15-40 mm wide, glossy, green, upper and lower surfaces different colours. Adult leaves alternating up the stems, 9-19 cm long, 15-40 mm wide, glossy, green, upper and lower surfaces different colours. Flowers white, with 0 petals. Flower clusters 7-11 flowered. Mature flower buds 5–10 mm long, caps as long as the base. Flowers Summer-Autumn. Gumnuts 4-7 mm in diameter. Gumnuts that have dropped their seed have protruding valves, the tips erect.
It intergrades with Eucalyptus botryoides, which is rough-barked on the trunk and larger branches. All populations south of Port Jackson show some genetic influence from Eucalyptus botryoides, with some rough bark. Plants with the general appearance of Eucalyptus saligna extend as far south as Mogo, south of Batemans Bay, then becoming more like Eucalyptus botryoides south into East Gippsland in Victoria. Some populations cannot be assigned to either species e.g. those in Kangaroo Valley.
Intergrades between Eucalyptus grandis and Eucalyptus saligna are frequent on low sites in the Gosford–Ourimbah district, south of the natural range of Eucalyptus grandis.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Eucalyptus~saligna (accessed 22 January, 2021)
EUCLID description: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/eucalyptus_saligna.htm (accessed 22 January, 2021)
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