Eucalyptus botryoides Sm.
Large tree; bark thick, soft, persistent sometimes to the branches or otherwise to c. 1/2 the trunk. Juvenile lvs opposite for 5-6 pairs, petiolate, ± lanceolate-ovate. Adult lvs with petioles 2-3 cm long; lamina 8-18 × 1.5-4 cm, lanceolate or broad-lanceolate, coriaceous, with conspicuous marginal vein and many fine parallel lateral veins diverging at 50-70° from midrib, discolorous with lower surface paler; base somewhat asymmetric; apex long-attenuate. Umbels axillary, of 7-11 sessile fls (central fl. sometimes pedicellate); peduncles 1-1.5 cm long, strongly flattened. Buds to c. 1 cm long, green; hypanthium c. 1/2 operculum, acutely ribbed; operculum ± conic. Stamens white; anthers oblong. Fr. 7-10 × 5-8 mm, ± oblong-cylindric or urceolate; valves 4, deeply sunken; disc narrow or very narrow, convex or descending.
N.: Kamo (near Whangarei, N. Auckland), and in scattered localities northwards to the Karikari Peninsula.
N.S.W. to E. Victoria 1957
Regenerating spontaneously in indigenous scrub.
FL Nov-Mar.
In N.Z. E. botryoides is mainly cultivated in warmer lowland areas where recorded heights are greater than those given by Blakely (1955, op. cit.). The thick, soft spongy bark is distinctive. In Australia it is often known as southern mahogany.
