Eucalyptus gillii

Eucalyptus gillii is a small tree reaching a height of 8 metres with a spread of several metres. Bark is smooth over most of the trunk with persistent flaky bark at the base.

It grows in NSW in the far west – in and north of Broken Hill. It extends west into South Australia, where it is common in the Flinders Ranges (near to Lake Frome and to the north, west and south).

It grows in Mulga country (Acacia anuera) on sand plains and forms mallee scrub.

Eucalyptus spp. have simple and usually alternate adult leaves with juvenile leaves starting off opposite to alternate (disjunct). In this species, juvenile leaves are grey-blue, to about 6 cm long and wide, ovate to cordate and sessile (without petioles). Adult leaves are lanceolate to broadly ovate to cordate, to 8 cm long and about 3.5 cm wide. They may be green, grey-green or blue-grey. It is stated that the canopy is, in most cases, composed mainly of juvenile leaves.

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, buds have a horn-shaped operculum and are carried in umbellasters of 3-9. Flowers are two centimetres across, pale yellow, profuse and conspicuous. The flowering period extends from June to December.

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, capsules are round to barrel-shaped, to about 9 mm long and wide.