Eucalyptus cinerea F.Muell. ex Benth.

Argyle apple, mealy stringybark, silver-leaf stringybark, silver dollar gum, silver dollar tree

Australia: sporadically distributed on the Central and Southern Tablelands and adjacent Western Slopes of New South Wales, south to north-eastern Victoria.

In New Zealand widely cultivated as a landscape tree of parks and gardens; occasionally naturalised from nearby planted specimens.

Scattered records from the North Island and northern South Island of New Zealand.

• Medium-sized tree with bark rough to small branches, thick, fibrous, longitudinally furrowed.
• Crown of mature tree composed of grey-green to waxy grey-white juvenile and intermediate leaves.
• Juvenile leaves waxy grey-white, stalkless, opposite for many pairs, round to broadly ovate, to 80 mm long and 50 mm wide, base stem-clasping and overlapping the leaf on the opposite side of the stem, lobed or rounded.
• Intermediate leaves grey-green to waxy grey-white, opposite, stalked, ovate to lanceolate, to 90 mm long and 45 mm wide.
• Adult leaves rarely formed, dull, grey-green to waxy grey-white, alternate, stalked, blade lanceolate to slightly sickle-shaped, to 140 mm long and 50 mm wide, base rounded or tapering to stalk.
• Flower buds in stalked clusters of three, in leaf axils; mature buds stalkless or with central bud short-stalked, diamond-shaped, to 8 mm long and 5 mm wide, waxy grey-white, bud cap conical, flowers white.
• Capsules woody, stalkless or shortly stalked, funnel-shaped to bell-shaped, disc a raised ring, valves 3 to 5, to rim level or projecting slightly past the rim.

Small to medium-sized tree to 15 m tall.

Bark rough to small branches, thick, fibrous, longitudinally furrowed, grey over red-brown; ribbons absent. Hairs and adventitious roots absent. Young stems rounded, waxy grey-white.

Adult leaves (rarely formed) alternate; blade lanceolate to slightly sickle-shaped, 90–140 mm long, 15–50 mm wide, base rounded or tapering to stalk, dull, grey-green to waxy grey-white, same colour above and below; side-veins at an angle greater than 45° to midrib, vein reticulation dense, intramarginal vein remote from margin, with few to numerous oil glands; leaf stalk to 11 mm long.

Juvenile leaves stalkless, opposite for many pairs, round to broadly ovate, to 80 mm long, to 50 mm wide, base stem-clasping and overlapping the leaf on the opposite side of the stem, lobed or rounded; leaf tip rounded to pointed or notched, waxy grey-white.

Intermediate leaves opposite with stalks 4–15 mm, ovate to lanceolate, 48–90 mm long, 20–45 mm wide, grey-green to waxy grey-white.

Flowers in clusters of three, in leaf axils, stalk of cluster 5–8 mm long. Mature buds are free, stalkless or with central bud short-stalked (stalk to 3 mm long), diamond-shaped, 8 mm long, 3–5 mm wide, waxy grey-white, bud cap conical, flowers (stamens) white; in mature open flowers, petals and sepals absent. Main flowering period: late autumn to spring.

Capsules woody, stalkless or shortly stalked (stalk to 2 mm long), funnel-shaped to bell-shaped, 4–8 mm long, 5–9 mm wide, disc a raised ring, valves 3 to 5, to rim level or projecting slightly past the rim.

• Eucalyptus cordata and E. cinerea foliage and buds look similar, both with mainly grey-green to waxy grey-white foliage and buds in clusters of three in leaf axils. Leaf margins of E. cinerea are smooth, whereas those of E. cordata are usually scalloped. Woody capsules of E. cordata are cup-shaped, cylindrical or hemispherical, compared with funnel-shaped to bell-shaped capsules of E. cinerea. Branchlets of E. cordata may be square and warty, but young stems of E. cinerea are round. The most distinctive difference is that E. cordata bark is smooth, sometimes with curling or flaking patches, but E. cinerea bark is rough with longitudinal furrows.
• Eucalyptus nicholii and E. cinerea both have thick, rough, longitudinally furrowed bark to the small branches, dull, grey-green to waxy grey-white foliage, and capsules that are funnel-shaped to bell-shaped. However, buds and capsules of E. cinerea are in clusters of 3, and those of E. nicholii are in clusters of 7. Capsules of E. nicholii are small (to 5 mm long, to 5 mm wide) and those of E. cinerea are larger (to 8 mm long, to 9 mm wide).

In Australia, three subspecies are described: Eucalyptus cinerea subsp. cinerea, E. cinerea subsp. triplex and E. cinerea subsp. victoriensis. They vary slightly in distribution and crown foliage composition, as well as capsule size range. In E. cinerea subsp. cinerea the crown of the mature tree is composed of juvenile and intermediate leaves. In E. cinerea subsp. triplex, the crown of the mature tree is composed of mixed juvenile, intermediate and adult leaves or predominantly of intermediate and adult leaves. In E. cinerea subsp. victoriensis the crown of the mature tree is composed of juvenile and intermediate leaves, with the rarely formed adult leaves slightly narrower and the capsules slightly smaller than in the other subspecies. In New Zealand herbaria, there are no specimens determined to subspecies.

Eucalyptus is a genus of nearly 800 species, most of which are endemic to Australia, with a few species extending to parts of Malesia and as far north as the Philippines.

• EUCLID
• Flora of New Zealand Online
• GBIF
• iNaturalist NZ
• NZPCN
• PlantNET: New South Wales Flora Online
• Plants of South Eastern New South Wales