Eucalyptus pilularis

A tree reaching potentially reaching 70 m tall (often seen at 30-35 m) – without a lignotuber.

It has a basal trunk of coarsely-somewhat messy dark brown to black fibrous bark – with upper smooth creamy limbs – sometimes with scribbles.

It is a NSW-Qld species, growing down south beyond Eden – very close to the Victorian border, northwards along the coast – inland to around Blackheath-longitude and Armidale, extending into Queensland, as far north as Fraser Island. There are some very large specimens around Sydney – esepcially on the enriched Ashfield Shale and Narrabeen Sediments (i.e., suburbs such as Gordon and Pymble, as well as the Royal National Park).

They form part of dry and wet sclerophyll forests and woodlands and can be found on sandstone and shale environments. They are a common tree in coastal NSW forests.

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 is opposite-sessile for many paris and then alternate, mid-green to purple-green above and with almost grey-silver or pale green colouring underneath. Juvenile leaves are also very silky in texture.

The adult leaves are disjunct, lanceolate to falcate, to 20 cm long and to about 3.5 cm wide, concolorous to discolorous, generally mid green. The canopy appears very green in the sunlight (no hint of blue).

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 groups (umbellasters) of 7 to 15, in leaf axils or in compound sprays. Mature buds are ovoid to diamond-shaped, to 10 mm long and 5 mm wide, yellow to creamy in colour with a conical to beaked operculum / calyptra and with the calyptra scar absent (hence one bud cap per flower only).  Flowers are white, occurring mainly in spring to summer.

Eucalyptus produce a capsule (gum-nut) which house valves which open to release the seed. The fruits (capsules) of some boxes have a cylindrical to urceolate shape. In this species, the capsules are cup-shaped to hemispherical / globose – strongly resembling a broad brandy glass, to 11 mm long and 13 mm broad – hence the larger size aids in identification. The disc is typically level to descending, with 4 valves usually enclosed or rim-level.