Eucalyptus oblonga

Narrow leaved stringybark
Stringy bark of Eucalyptus oblonga, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Myrtales
Family:	Myrtaceae
Genus:	Eucalyptus
Species:	E. oblonga
Binomial name
Eucalyptus oblonga DC.
Synonyms
Eucalyptus deformis Blakely Eucalyptus globoidea Blakely

Eucalyptus oblonga, known by the common name stringybark, is a tree native to eastern Australia, restricted and localised around Sydney. It has a thick and fibrous stringy bark usually colored grey over reddish brown. They occur on the poorest soils in high rainfall areas, and are well suited to skeletal soils and frequent fires.

Eucalyptus oblonga is commonly referred to as narrow-leaved stringybark in textbooks, but as stringybark by locals. Their leaves are not particularly narrow, being 6 to 10 cm long, 1.5 to 2.8 cm wide and are somewhat glossy. The leaves are lanceolate or sickle shaped, have almost the same shade of green on both sides and alternate on the stem. Juvenile leaves start out growing on opposite sides of the stem and are ovate in shape.

Eucalyptus oblonga is a small tree up to 15 metres tall. It flowers in late summer to Easter. Gumnuts are stalkless, crowded together and measure up to 8 mm in diameter.

broad coppice leaves of Eucalyptus oblonga after fire at Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Australia

gumnuts of Eucalyptus oblonga at Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Australia

References

• "Eucalyptus oblonga". PlantNET - NSW Flora Online. Retrieved 2010-01-26.
• A Field Guide to Eucalypts - Brooker & Kleinig volume 1, ISBN 0-909605-62-9 page 74