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A medium tree, growing to a height to 15 m and forms a lignotuber.
It occurs in the Sydney region, as well as between the Putty and Broke districts and the Royal National Park. It extends south to around Nattai National Park / Picton, and is mostly confined to the Central Coast botanic subdivision.
It is generally found in sclerophyll woodland on ridgetops and plateaus, where soil accumulates in depressions on the sandstone, on and around sandstone plateaus, and often on lateritic soils.
Bark is rough, grey or reddish brown, tessellated fibrous or flaky on the trunk and branches. Often trees have the appearance of looking malnourished or diseased with some or a lot of dieback in some cases. They are also often multi-trunked.
Eucalyptus spp. have simple and usually alternate adult leaves with juvenile leaves starting off opposite to alternate (disjunct). In this species, juvenile foliage / coppice regrowth is dull green to greyish/blue, to 100 mm long and to 60 mm wide and petiolate.
Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same shade of green to greyish/blue on both sides, lanceolate to falcate, to 130 mm long and to 20 mm wide, tapering to a petiole to about 20 mm long.
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 seven, nine or eleven which are paired in the leaf axils (a useful identification feature as it is one of only a few eucalypts that have paired umbellasters in the leaf axils). Mature buds are oval, to 11 mm long and to 5 mm wide with a conical to beaked operculum / calyptra. Flowering occurs from October to December and the flowers are white.
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 capsule is cup-shaped or hemispherical, to 7 mm long and to 8 mm wide, with the valves protruding strongly (exserted).
Not overly common in cultivation and is a species found on really poor soils. However, it would lend itself to medium gardens and landscapes. It has interesting and atypical bark for a Sydney eucalypt (somewhat resembling that of Corymbia eximia) and it has leaves which are almost blue in colour.
It could likely be kept short by regular pruning or grown as a mallee. Might also be used as a street tree although it does have a spreading habit. It would be best grown in an open sunny position and can likely tolerate poor soils.
Eucalypts can suffer problems from, caterpillars, leaf eating beetles, psyllids and borers to name a few. In undisturbed conditions, the numbers of eucalypt-feeding insects and their predators and parasites are in balance, so that they rarely cause tree death and most trees quickly recover from attack. In a home situation nature can get out of balance.
Eucalypts can be propagated by seeds which is most common method or grafting.
Cuttings are difficult to start, but can be used in some species.
Grows in very fire prone environments and it readily regenerates from the lignotuber and epicormic shoots, as well as seed.
Eucalyptus is one of three similar genera that are commonly referred to as “eucalypts”, the others being Corymbia and Angophora.
It is well-known that Eucalyptus is a large and diverse genus. Between 700 and 950 known species are reported, occurring as far north as The Philippines, as well as Indonesia, New Guinea, Timor and Australia. Only 16 species reportedly occur outside Australia. They occur in all Australian states. NSW currently has about 250 species. (See this website for some detailed information: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/intro/learn.htm).
Eucalyptus – from Greek, eu, “well” or “true” and calyptus, referring to the calyptra (καλύπτρo) or operculum, which is a bud cap or covering which covers the developing flowers. The calyptra is a fusion of petals and/or sepals and is shed when the flower opens, leaving a flower with many stamens (staminate) surrounding one female part (carpel).
squamosa – from the Latin word squamosus, meaning “scaly”, referring to the bark of this species.
This species is not considered to be at risk of extinction in the wild, although it has a constrained distribution and often it is not observed in large numbers.
Field Guide to Eucalypts Vol 1 South Eastern Australia. M.I.H.Brooker and D.A.Kleinig. Blooming Books.
EUCLID – Eucalypts of Australia – Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research – Eucalyptus squamosa profile page https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/eucalyptus_squamosa.htm
NSW Flora Online (PlantNET) – Eucalyptus squamosa profile page https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Eucalyptus~squamosa