Eucalyptus pilularis Sm.
Large tree; bark persistent, rather soft and fibrous on trunk, smooth and whitish on branches. Juvenile lvs sessile, amplexicaul, discolorous. Adult lvs with stout petioles 1-1.5 cm long; lamina to 15 × 2.5 cm, narrow-lanceolate, coriaceous, ± concolorous, with distinct intramarginal vein and with numerous, parallel lateral veins diverging at angles of 30-50° to midrib; base ± symmetric; apex long-subulate-acuminate. Umbels axillary, of 7-11 fls; peduncles 1-2 cm long, stout, compressed; pedicels c. 0.5 cm long. Buds c. 8 mm long, yellowish green; operculum ± rostrate, = hypanthium. Stamens whitish; anthers reniform. Fr. pedicellate, 8-11 × 11-14 mm, hemispheric; valves 4, slightly sunken or at rim level; disc 1-2 mm wide, flat or obliquely descending.
N.: N. Auckland, especially Silverdale.
N.S.W., S.E. Queensland 1957
Regenerating freely in and around plantations.
FL Nov-Mar.
E. pilularis is commonly cultivated in lowland areas of the North Id, mainly N. of the Volcanic Plateau. The combination of rather soft, fibrous bark (almost like a stringy bark), different colours of the lf surfaces of juvenile lvs, prominent flattened peduncles, and the beaked opercula of the buds, distinguish it from other spp. in N.Z. In Australia it is known as blackbutt.
