Eucalyptus globoidea Blakely

white stringybark

Australia: widely distributed in coastal ranges from eastern Victoria to the Central Tablelands and North Coast of New South Wales.

In New Zealand cultivated in tree collections and for timber, and as a landscape tree of parks; occasionally naturalised from nearby planted specimens.

Scattered records from the North Island, uncommon in the South Island of New Zealand.

• A tree to 40 m tall with rough, stringy, furrowed, greyish bark to the small branches.
• Adult leaves that are glossy, green, same colour above and below or colour slightly different, alternate, stalked, blade lanceolate to sickle-shaped, to 135 mm long and 40 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.
• Young stems, leaf stalk, leaf margin and veins of juvenile leaves sparsely rough-surfaced (scabrid) with star-shaped hairs. Juvenile leaves always stalked, opposite for a few pairs then alternate, usually ovate, to 100 mm long and 45 mm wide, green, colour different above and below, edges wavy and scalloped.
• Flowers in stalked clusters of 11 to 15, in leaf axils, stalk of cluster angular to distinctly flattened, to 15 mm long, buds stalkless or with very short stalks, mature buds ovate to spindle-shaped, to 6 mm long and 4 mm wide, green to yellow, smooth, or slightly warty, bud cap conical, flowers white.
• Fruit that are usually stalkless or sometimes short-stalked woody capsules, rounded or truncated-globular, to 7 mm long and 8 mm wide, disc variable, more or less level with capsule rim, valves 3 or 4, near rim level or enclosed within the capsule.

Tree to 40 m tall.

Bark rough to small branches, stringy, furrowed down trunk, usually grey; ribbons absent. Hairs and adventitious roots absent. Young stems round in cross-section, rough-surfaced (scabrid).

Adult leaves alternate, stalked, blade ovate to lanceolate to sickle-shaped, 70–135 mm long, 12–40 mm wide, usually the two sides of the leaf base meet at different points on the midrib (oblique), same colour above and below or colour slightly different, glossy, green, side-veins at an acute angle to midrib, vein reticulation sparse to moderate, intramarginal vein parallel to and well removed from margin, oil glands numerous; leaf stalk 7–17 mm long.

Juvenile leaves always stalked, opposite for a few pairs then alternate, usually ovate, 40–100 mm long, 20–45 mm wide, margins wavy and often scalloped due to presence of star-shaped hairs, glossy, green, colour different above and below; rough-surfaced on growing tips, stems, leaf stalks and both leaf surfaces for many pairs.

Flowers in stalked clusters of 11 to 15, in leaf axils, stalk of cluster angular to flattened, 4–15 mm long, buds stalkless or on stalks 1–3 mm long. Mature buds free, ovate to spindle-shaped, 4–6 mm long, 2–4 mm wide, green to yellow, smooth, or slightly warty, bud cap conical, flowers (stamens) white; in mature open flowers, petals and sepals absent. Main flowering period: winter, spring and summer.

Capsules woody, usually stalkless, rarely stalked, (stalks 1 mm long), rounded or truncated-globular, 4–7 mm long, 5–8 mm wide, disc level with capsule rim or descending on an angle inside the rim, valves 3 or 4, near rim level or enclosed within the capsule.

• Stringybark eucalypts have many similar characteristics. Species in this key are E. globoidea, E. eugenioides and E. muelleriana. Other stringybarks in New Zealand include E. agglomerata (blue-leaved stringybark) and E. laevopinea (silvertop stringybark). E. obliqua and E. pilularis also have some characteristics in common with the stringybarks, as do some of the ash eucalypt species.
• Stringybarks have fibrous rough bark to the small branches (except E. laevopinea, that has smooth white bark on the small limbs). Eucalyptus obliqua has mostly rough bark, but smooth bark on the upper branches. Eucalyptus pilularis has rough bark on the lower trunk, but smooth white bark on the upper trunk and branches. These two species are included in comparisons because of similar characteristics to some stringybarks.
• All these stringybarks have green (or blue-green for E. agglomerata), more or less lanceolate adult leaves. There is variation in whether colour is the same above and below or not. Eucalyptus obliqua and E. pilularis (not stringybarks) have leaves the same colour above and below. (E. agglomerata and E. laevopinea also have leaves the same colour above and below.) E. muelleriana has leaves that are distinctly different coloured above and below. The leaves of E. globoidea and E. eugenioides are mostly the same above and below but may be slightly different.
• The juvenile leaves of all these stringybarks have leaves that are a different colour above and below, some progressing to leaves the same colour each side as the plant develops. Stringybark juvenile leaves are rough-surfaced on stems, leaf stalks, leaf margins and midribs, because of star-shaped hairs present. E. obliqua has warty young stems from numerous raised oil glands. In contrast, E. pilularis has young stems 4-sided with flanged edges. The stringybark juvenile leaves have short stalks, whereas E. obliqua and E. pilularis juvenile leaves are stalkless.
• The number of flowers and capsules in a cluster varies. All have 7 or more; E. muelleriana (and E. laevopinea) have 7–11; E. eugenioides and E. pilularis have 7–15; E. globoidea, E. obliqua (and E. agglomerata) have 11–15. All these stringybarks and E. obliqua have the cluster stalk angular to flattened, some up to 20 mm long; E. pilularis has an angular cluster stalk.
• All have rounded to conical bud caps, but the cap of E. pilularis (and E. agglomerata) may be narrowly pointed.
• The stringybarks have characteristically crowded clusters of capsules because of the number of buds. In most species, each capsule has a short stalk; but in E. globoidea, with stalkless or very short-stalked capsules, they are crowded (and in E. agglomerata the capsules are very crowded with sides flattened). The stringybark species have small, round or cup-shaped to truncated-globular capsules. They are differentiated on capsule size and length of capsule stalk, together with a combination of other characters. Eucalyptus obliqua has cup-shaped to barrel-shaped capsules, and E. pilularis capsules are round to truncated-globular.

Eucalyptus globoidea is susceptible to myrtle rust (caused by Austropuccinia psidii).

Although E. globoidea var. subsphaerica Blakely had been described previously, it was designated as a taxonomic synonym of E. globoidea in 2006 by CHAH, Australian Plant Census (APC).

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