Eucalyptus tenuiramis Miq.

silver peppermint

Australia: south-eastern Tasmania.

In New Zealand cultivated very occasionally in parks or forestry trials; a few rare records of naturalisation from nearby specimens.

Records sparse from the North Island, a few more from the South Island of New Zealand.

• A small to medium-sized tree to 25 m tall that has smooth bark throughout or with a few partly shed basal slabs of rough bark; smooth bark is white to light grey or yellowish.
• Crown of the tree may have opposite, stalked, waxy grey-white intermediate leaves as well as green to blue-green adult leaves that are alternate.
• Adult leaves alternate, stalked; blade broadly lanceolate to elliptic, to 130 mm long and 25 mm wide, glossy or dull, green, bluish or waxy grey-white, same colour above and below.
• Juvenile leaves opposite and stalkless until sapling stage, ovate, to 60 mm long and 38 mm wide, leaf bases joined to leaf bases on opposite side of stem or free from each other, stem-clasping, blue or waxy grey-white.
• Flowers in clusters of 9–15 or more, in leaf axils; mature buds short-stalked, club-shaped, to 8 mm long and 4 mm wide, cap hemispherical or conical, sometimes narrowly pointed, waxy green-white, smooth or minutely warty only on cap, flowers white.
• Fruit a woody capsule, rarely stalkless, usually on short stalks, cup-shaped, hemispherical or funnel-shaped, to 12 mm long and 11 mm wide, white or green with white speckling, disc raised above the rim or level, valves 3 or 4, near rim level.

A small to medium-sized tree to 25 m tall.

Bark smooth throughout or with a few partly shed basal slabs of rough bark; smooth bark white to light grey or yellowish; branchlets waxy grey-white with characteristic dark leaf-base scars encircling them; ribbons absent. Hairs and adventitious roots absent. Young stems rounded in cross-section, waxy grey-white, warty.

Adult leaves alternate, stalked, blade broadly lanceolate to elliptic, 55–130 mm long, 10–25 mm wide, base tapering to leaf stalk, glossy or dull, green, bluish or waxy grey-white, same colour above and below, hairless; side-vein angle to midrib varies, either acute or wider; vein reticulation sparse to moderate, intramarginal vein parallel to and well removed from margin, oil glands present; leaf stalk 7–12 mm long.

Juvenile leaves opposite and stalkless until sapling stage, ovate, 17–60 mm long, 10–38 mm wide, leaf bases joined to leaf bases on opposite side of stem or free from each other, stem-clasping, blue or waxy grey-white. Crown of the tree may have opposite, stalked, intermediate leaves as well as adult leaves.

Flowers in clusters of 9–15 or more in leaf axils, stalk of cluster round in cross-section, 4–12 mm long. Mature buds free with stalks 1–4 mm long, club-shaped, 5–8 mm long, 3–4 mm wide, cap hemispherical or conical, sometimes narrowly pointed, waxy green-white, smooth or minutely warty only on cap, flowers (stamens) white; in mature open flowers, petals and sepals absent. Main flowering period: late spring to summer.

Capsules woody, rarely stalkless, usually on stalks to 3 mm long, cup-shaped, hemispherical or funnel-shaped, 5–12 mm long, 6–11 mm wide, waxy white or green with white speckling due to wax retention in pits on the fruit surface; disc curved upwards from the rim to ring-like or level, valves 3 or 4, near rim level.

• Eucalyptus tenuiramis and E. pulchella both have smooth bark throughout, sometimes with some rough bark retained around the base. However, E. pulchella may have some ribbons in the crown, and the leaves are dark green, whereas the crown of E. tenuiramis is likely to have opposite, stalked, waxy grey-white intermediate leaves as well as green to blue-green, alternate adult leaves. Both E. pulchella and E. tenuiramis have flower buds in clusters of 9–15 or more, but E. tenuiramis has buds that are waxy green-white, smooth or minutely warty only on cap, whereas buds of E. pulchella are green, with a smooth rounded cap. Capsules of E. pulchella are brown when mature, but those of E. tenuiramis are distinctly waxy-white or green with white speckling due to wax retention in pits on the fruit surface.
• Eucalyptus tenuiramis and E. perriniana both have opposite, stalked, waxy grey-white intermediate leaves in the crown, and juvenile leaves that are joined across the stalk to the leaf on the opposite side. Both have smooth bark throughout, but bark of E. tenuiramis is white to light grey or yellowish, whereas bark of E. perriniana is copper-coloured when new, weathering to greenish or white. Flower buds and capsules of E. perriniana are distinctive, in clusters of 3, whereas E. tenuiramis has buds in clusters of 9–15 or more.

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