Eucalyptus oligantha

Eucalyptus oligantha is a tree that typically grows to a height of 12–15 m (39–49 ft) and forms a lignotuber. It has rough, fibrous, flaky or scaly greyish bark on the trunk and branches. Young plants and coppice regrowth have egg-shaped to more or less round leaves 50–135 mm (2.0–5.3 in) long, 35–135 mm (1.4–5.3 in) wide and petiolate. Adult leaves are broadly egg-shaped to more or less round and are usually lost in the dry season. They are usually the same shade of green on both sides, 65–190 mm (2.6–7.5 in) long and 50–213 mm (2.0–8.4 in) wide on a petiole 18–98 mm (0.71–3.86 in) long. The flower buds are mostly arranged on the end of branchlets on a thin, branched peduncle in groups of three or seven. The peduncle is 3–15 mm (0.12–0.59 in) long, the individual buds on pedicels 3–8 mm (0.12–0.31 in) long. Mature buds are oval to pear-shaped, 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) long and 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) wide with a usually conical operculum. Flowering has been recorded in March, July and September and the flowers are creamy yellow to whitish. The fruit is a woody, cup-shaped to more or less cylindrical, bell-shaped or conical capsule 6–11 mm (0.24–0.43 in) long and 6–9 mm (0.24–0.35 in) wide with the valves either level with the rim or strongly protruding.[2][3][4]

Eucalyptus oligantha was first formally described in 1843 by Johannes Conrad Schauer in Walpers' Repertorium Botanices Systematicae.[5][6] The specific epithet (oligantha) is from the ancient Greek oligos meaning "few" and -anthus meaning "-flowered".[7][8]

Broad-leaved box grows on flats and slopes, often near watercourses in forest and woodland in the Kimberley region between Wyndham and Derby with a few scattered populations in the Northern Territory, including some of its offshore islands.[3][4]

This eucalypt is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.[2]

• List of Eucalyptus species