Eucalyptus cypellocarpa

This species grows to potentially a very tall tree, reaching 50, to even 65 metres, in some habitats, and forming a lignotuber.

It has a sturdy straight trunk with mostly smooth bark with shades of white, grey and yellow, which sheds in long ribbons.

It grows mainly in NSW tablelands, close to the boundaries with the coastal and western slopes, south from about Tamworth, along the ranges into Victoria, where it spreads through the southern and eastern areas, and to as far west as Horsham.

It grows mainly in wet or dry sclerophyll forest with high rainfall on soils of higher fertility. It forms a dominant component of many vegetation types in some areas, some of which can be quite scenic – such as on tall wet sclerophyll forest on moist ground with basalt rocks and a moist fern, grass and forb groundlayer.

Eucalyptus spp. have simple and usually alternate adult leaves with juvenile leaves starting off opposite to alternate (disjunct). In this species, the juvenile foliage / coppicing growth has opposite leaves, which is broad-lanceolate, to ovate or elliptic, and glossy green. The adult leaves are disjunct, lanceolate to 20 cm long and to 2.5 cm wide, dull dark-green and concolorous. The leaves usually have a pendulous appearance.

The primary inflorescence of “eucalypts” (Angophora / Corymbia / Eucalyptus) is an umbellaster (an umbel-like cluster of flowers). In the flowers of Corymbia and Eucalyptus, the petals and sepals are fused into the distinctive calyptra / operculum (bud cap) which is shed when the flower opens (in some species, 2 bud caps (opercula) are shed). The flowers are conspicuously staminate – where many stamens are basically taking over the role of the petals, all surrounding one central carpel. In this species, the flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in umbellasters of 7. Mature buds are ovoid to 12 mm long and 5 mm wide with a conical and slightly-beaked operculum / calyptra. The buds also have conspicuous ribs running along their length – a very useful identification feature. Flowers are white and occur between October and June.

The fruit of eucalypts are a woody capsule (commonly called ‘gum nuts’) which come in a wide variety of shapes with the top part having a sunken, flat or raised disc and with the valves inserted, disc-level, exserted to strongly exserted. In this species, the capsules are cylindrical to ovoid, resembling a barrel-like cup with 3 valves, usually rim-level to enclosed, to 10 mm long and 9 mm wide.