Eucalyptus fastigata H.Deane & Maiden

brown barrel, cut-tail

Australia: mountains in New South Wales and Victoria.

In New Zealand cultivated in timber plantations, and occasionally in tree collections and for amenity; occasional naturalisation from nearby planted specimens.

Scattered records from the North Island; scarce in the South Island of New Zealand.

• Medium-sized to very tall tree to 60 m tall, with rough, furrowed, grey-brown bark on trunk and larger branches; branches in the crown of the tree with smooth bark that is white, cream, orange, grey or brown, with conspicuous ribbons of shedding bark.
• Adult leaves that are green, usually glossy, same colour above and below or slightly different, thin, alternate, stalked, blade lanceolate to sickle-shaped, to 205 mm long and 36 mm wide, usually the two sides of the leaf base meeting at different points on the midrib (oblique), side-veins at an acute angle to midrib or parallel to it.
• Juvenile leaves that are stalked, at first opposite, broadly ovate, soon becoming alternate, and shaped like the adult leaves, bases rounded at first, green, colour different above and below.
• Flowers often in paired clusters in leaf axils (but may be single also); stalk of cluster to 14 mm long; pointed buds in clusters of 11 to 15 or more, stalked, mature buds club-shaped, to 6 mm long and 3 mm wide, green to yellow, bud cap conical to rounded with a distinctly pointed tip.
• Capsules woody, stalked or rarely stalkless, funnel-shaped to pear-shaped, to 9 mm long and 8 mm wide, disc slightly domed above the rim or almost level, valves 3 or 4, about rim level or projecting slightly above the rim.

Medium-sized to very tall tree to 60 m tall.

Bark rough on trunk and larger branches, fibrous or stringy, often furrowed, grey or brown; smooth bark of branches white, cream, orange, grey or brown, with ribbons of shedding bark conspicuous in the crown of the tree. Hairs and adventitious roots absent. Young stem rounded in cross-section, usually smooth.

Adult leaves alternate, stalked, blade lanceolate to sickle-shaped, 70–205 mm long, 15–36 mm wide, usually the two sides of the leaf base meeting at different points on the midrib (oblique), or tapering to the stalk, same colour above and below or colour slightly different, thin, usually glossy, green, side-veins at an acute angle to midrib or parallel to it, vein reticulation sparse, intramarginal vein parallel to and well removed from margin, oil glands present; leaf stalk 10–17 mm long.

Juvenile leaves stalked, at first opposite and broadly elliptic to ovate, soon becoming alternate, broadly lanceolate to sickle-shaped, 45–120 mm long, 18–50 mm wide, bases rounded to meeting at different points on the midrib, green, colour different above and below.

Flowers often in paired clusters in leaf axils, but may be single also; stalk of cluster round to angular, 4–14 mm long, buds in clusters of 11 to 15 or more; mature buds free, stalked (bud stalks 1–5 mm long), club-shaped, 3–6 mm long, 2–3 mm wide, green to yellow, bud cap conical to rounded with a distinctly pointed tip, flowers (stamens) white; in mature open flowers, petals and sepals absent. Main flowering period: summer.

Capsules woody, stalked or rarely stalkless (stalks 1–5 mm long), funnel-shaped to pear-shaped, 5–9 mm long, 4–8 mm wide, disc slightly domed above the rim or almost level, valves 3 or 4, about rim level or projecting slightly above the rim.

Eucalyptus fastigata, like its close relative E. regnans, often has paired bud and capsule clusters in leaf axils, but differs from that species in having rough bark over the whole trunk and capsules with a raised disc, compared to thin rough bark only on the lower part of the trunk and the slightly sunken disc in E. regnans. The upper branches are smooth and the crown of the tree usually has ribbons of shedding bark, which distinguishes it from E. obliqua, the other tall green-leaved ash species of similar wet forests. The smooth, bright green juvenile leaves held horizontally distinguish it from the stringybarks, and the green-leaved ash eucalypt characters from the blue-leaved ashes.

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