Endemic flora D-G

Looking at the photographs To view the photographs, click on the species image to enlarge it, then use the side arrows to page through images of the flowers, buds, fruit, leaves, foliage and plant(s) in the wild etc.
Viewing the meaning of botanical words To view the meaning of botanical words, hold the cursor on the blue word and the meaning will appear in a text box.
Based on Debenham C’s, The Language of Botany, A Publication of The Society for Growing Australian Plants, Chipping Norton NSW, c.1962.

Diselma archeri

Botanical Name: Diselma archeri (E)
Commonly Called: Dwarf pine
Botanical Family: Cupressaceae
Grows: Although it is called the Dwarf pine, it may be found prostrate only in exposed areas and with the right conditions may grow 2 to 6m high by 1 to 1.4m wide.
Foliage: Leaves scale-like and very small, arranged in pairs opposite and the next pair at right angles to the previous pair.
Flora: Male and female cones on separate plants, but inconspicuous. Male cones small, solo on stem tip with crimson pollen sacs. Mature female cones about 4mm diameter with 2 pairs of scales, the upper being the only fertile pair.
Flowering Season: Immature male and female cones appear in summer.
Fruiting body: The mature female cones are about 4mm dimeter, round, with four scales, the upper pair fertile with two small, winged seeds per cone.
How and where it grows: It occurs naturally at altitudes of about 1,000 to 1,400m in moist soils, among montane shrubbery. Widespread in the western and southern mountains.
Where found: South West, Mount Field and Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Parks; Precipitous Bluff summit, Mount Weld and Snowy Range; western area of Wellington Park.
Other notes: This handsome, well rounded conifer species with drooping tips on the upper branches is very slow growing and requires moist, well composted soil in full to no sun. It makes a good rockery or pot plant.

Dodonaea filiformis

Botanical Name: Dodonaea filiformis (E)
Commonly Called: Fineleaf hopbush
Botanical Family: Sapindaceae
Grows: This small, upright, scaly barked shrub with many branches, grows 1 to 2m high by 1.5 to 2m wide.
Foliage: Bright green, fine leaves 12 to 25mm long, narrow, glandular and curved
Flora: Very small, male and female flowers grow on separate plants, clustered at the end of the branches in the leaf axils.
Flowering Season: The flowers appear in late spring through early summer
Fruiting body: The fruit of this species are very distinctive three winged papery capsules, ranging in colour from light to dark pink through to red-brown and are best seen in early to late summer.
How and where it grows: Limited to dry sclerophyll forests of the east coast.
Where found: Coal Marsh and Mackays Road Royal George area; Douglas Apsley and Freycinet National Parks; Franklins Road Kellevie; Macquarie River; Derwent River Valley around New Norfolk and the Broad River confluence near Ouse; Mount Tombs area; Shannon River near the Ouse River confluence; Scrubby Den Rivulet, Western Tiers.
Other notes: The colourful displays of crowded fruit and fine crowded foliage make this a beautiful garden specimen. It grows best in well-drained, moist soil in part/full sun and tolerates frosts. Pruning will help maintain a bushy habit and its scaly bark is an added attraction.

Epacris acuminata

Botanical Name: Epacris acuminata (E)
Commonly Called: Claspleaf heath
Botanical Family: Epacridaceae
Grows: 50-75cm H x 30-60cm W
Foliage: The concave, stem clasping leaves are 5 to 10mm long, broadly lanceolate and tapering to a point.
Flora: The white flowers have a tube as long as the calyx and spreading lobes They grow in the leaf axils near the end of the stems.
Flowering Season: The flowers appear during spring.
Fruiting body: The fruit is a capsule, a tiny nut, which dries and splits or opens to release one or more seeds.
How and where it grows: Occurs in the south, south-east and Midlands from sea level to 1,000m.
Where found: NE of Gunners Quoin, north of Mount Direction Conservation Reserve, ; Mount Ponsonby Forest Reserve; Mangalore Tier; Bagdad area; Mount Dromedary; Platform Peak; Sherwood Hill, Pelverata; Pelverata Creek, Snug Tiers; Lonnavale.
Other notes: In cultivation this species requires moist, well-drained soil, and prefers part shade. Propagation is difficult by cuttings which should be new tip cuttings.

Epacris virgata

Botanical Name: Epacris virgata (E)
Commonly Called: Pretty heath
Botanical Family: Epacridaceae
Grows: This upright shrub grows 0.75 to 2m high by 0.5 to 1m wide, round in shape with few side branches.
Foliage: The leaves are 3 to 8mm long, roundish, tapering to a point and shiny, usually held upright on the stems.
Flora: The flowers, white, tubular with spreading lobes, grow singly in the axils of the upper two thirds of the branchlets.
Flowering Season: Flowers appear in winter through spring.
Fruit: The fruit is a capsule with 5 valves and contains fine seed.
How and where it grows: This pretty little heath plant grows up to 400m in three separate areas of the state, the Dazzler Range in the north, east of Lilydale, and in the south-east, in shallow, poorly drained dolerite or ironstone soils.
Where found: Margate hills and Snug Tiers; around Kingston; Knocklofty and Orford Thumbs Reserves; Orford Old Convict Road to the Propation Station area; Forestier and Tasman Peninsulas, including Shipstern Bluff Track.
Other notes: Requires well drained, moist soils with some sun among other plants, prune for shape.

Eucalyptus Altitude Progression

This map shows the Lake Dobson Road winding west from the Mount Field National Park (NP) Visitors Centre (right hand side) to Lake Dobson and the snow fields (left hand side).
Along the Lake Dobson Road then up to the ski fields in Mount Field NP seven eucalyptus species follow an altitude sequence. The five higher altitude species are endemic (E).

Eucalyptus obliqua tall trees, Stringbark, 
at the start of the Lake Dobson Road Mount Field NP

At the start of the road, the rough, stringy barked Eucalyptus obliqua, Stringybark, is found. It has rough, furrowed, brown bark persisting to the upper small branches and conspicuous oblique leaves. It is an important wide spread species for construction timber.

Eucalyptus regnans tall tree, Giant ash, 
at the start of the Tall Trees walk at the Lake Dobson Rd carpark, 1.1km up the gravel road

It then merges with the mighty Eucalyptus regnans, Giant ash, that grows up to 90m tall with a straight trunk which, in mature trees, is buttressed at the base. This species is also a very important forestry and construction timber and, is easily recognised, especially around the Tall Trees Walk with its tall, straight, buttressed trunk, long ribbons of shedding bark and a small crown of foliage.

Eucalyptus tasmaniensis trees, 
Gumtop stringybark, just past the Mixed Forest interpretation corner about 6.5km up Lake Dobson Road

It features further up the road until it merges with the magnificent Eucalyptus tasmaniensis (E), syn. E. delegatensis subsp. tasmaniensis, Gumtopped stringybark, that occurs above 600m and grows shorter as the altitude increases. It is another important forestry production timber species. It has rough bark over most of the trunk which peels in long strips to expose creamy white upper trunk and branches.

Eucalyptus johnstonii large trees, 
Yellow gum, about 8.5km up Lake Dobson Road

Below the Subalpine Walk and along the track from the carpark to Lake Fenton, Eucalyptus johnstonii (E), Yellow gum, the trunks of which are yellowish-green when wet, may be seen. Growing straight, 40 to 60m high, it has been a beautiful flooring timber, but now may be in reduced supply.

Eucalyptus urnigera trees, Urn gum, 
past the Lake Fenton access track Lake Dobson Road

Uphill from the Lake Fenton outfall, tall Eucalyptus urnigera (E), Urn gum, line the northern side of the road. Their distinctive urn shaped fruit, high up in their foliage, give them their species and common names.

Eucalyptus subcrenulata tree, 
Alpine yellowgum, near Lake Dobson carpark, Lake Dobson Road

Next, a little further up the road, Eucalyptus subcrenulata (E), Alpine yellow gum, dominates the rise south of Wombat Moor. Then, up past the Lake Dobson carpark, its bark, yellow-green to pale grey with coloured blotches, makes it easily recognisable downhill from the Urquhart Track.

Eucalyptus coccifera tall trees, 
Snow peppermint, Ski Fields Road north of Eagle Tarn

Finally, the smooth grey trunks of this area’s highest growing eucalypt, Eucalyptus coccifera (E), Snow peppermint, are found, especially along the Ski Fields Road and up past the ski huts along the Snowgum Track.

This sequence of these eucalypt species is found in other sites in southern Tasmania such as up the Pinnacle Road, kunanyi/Mount Wellington. However, up Lake Dobson Road, Mount Field National Park, is the easiest location to recognise them all.
Information in this compilation was supplied by Alan M. Gray (dec), Honorary Botanist Tasmanian Herbarium. He was a fountain of knowledge on eucalypts, especially Tasmanian Eucalypts.
Full descriptions of the 5 endemic species follow below in alphabetical order. E. obliqua and E. regnans will be added to a Summer flora page.

Eucalyptus coccifera

Botanical Name: Eucalyptus coccifera (E)
Commonly Called: Snow peppermint
Botanical Family: Myrtaceae
Grows: This small to medium tree has grey smooth bark which sheds in irregular strips revealing more grey bark beneath. It grows from 9 to 30m high in subalpine and alpine areas.
Foliage: The young leaves are green or glaucous (i.e. blue green with a waxy bloom which can be rubbed off), up to 5cm long and broadly elliptical. The hook tipped, adult leaves are grey-green, elliptical to lanceolate and grow up to 10cm long.
Flora: The club shaped buds in clusters of three to seven or more are sometimes ribbed. They shed their flat caps (formed from fused sepals and petals} to reveal many, many white to cream stamens which fold out from the flower bud while a large number of stamens also radiate inwards over the style in the centre of the sunken disc.
Flowering Season: as a mountain species it needs the warmth of summer to flower.
Fruiting body: The capsules (gumnuts), with four cells full of many seeds, are 10 to 12 mm in diameter, hemispherical and have sunken valves level with the rim of the fruit.
How and where it grows: Tasmania’s largest, highest Eucalyptus is found throughout the Central plateau and southern mountains above 750 and up to 1,350 metres in altitude.
Where found: Hartz, South West, Mount Field and Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Parks; kunanyi/Mount Wellington from the Chalet to near the summit and all over Wellington Range between 750 and 1,350 metres; Herringback near the summit, south of Vinces Saddle.
Other notes: Requires well drained, moist soils with full sun, prune for size and shape.

Eucalyptus cordata subsp. cordata

Botanical Name: Eucalyptus cordata subsp. cordata (E)
Commonly Called: Roundstem Tasmanian silver gum or Roundstem heartleaf gum
Botanical Family: Myrtaceae
Grows: This subspecies with glaucous leaves and branches, usually grows as a mallee form shrub to 3m high, or some times as a taller tree to 10m high.
Foliage: Both juvenile and adult leaves are heart shaped, opposite and glaucous, growing up to 10cm long. Some taller trees develop true adult leaves. This subspecies has round juvenile branchlets.
Flora: The flowers grow in umbles (clusters) of 3 and are cup shaped with a short, pointed, domed cap. As with other Eucalyptus species, when the flower is ready, it sheds its cap to reveal many white/cream stamens cascading out of the bud.
Flowering Season: Flowers appear in late winter through early spring.
Fruiting body: The flower buds mature to larger fruit, up to 13mm in diameter, with 4 sunken valves which have small points.
How and where it grows: Scattered locations in the south-east usually in dry south east woodland coastal areas.
Where found: Hellfire Bluff Coastal Reserve south of Orford; Snug Tiers; Penguin Island, Adventure Bay, Bruny Island; Cape Queen Elizabeth, North Bruny Island; top of Perpendicular Mountain, Maria Island; N road, Wielangta area; Mount Grosse, Gordon; Allens Rivulet; many locations from Ridgeway to Kingston between the Southern Outlet and Wellington Park.
Other notes: Usually a small, attractive tree with glaucous foliage which is subject to insect attack, prune for size and shape.

Eucalyptus cordata subsp. quadrangulosa

Botanical Name: Eucalyptus cordata subsp. quadrangulosa (E)
Commonly Called: Squarestem Tasmanian silver gum or Squarestem heartleaf gum
Botanical Family: Myrtaceae
Grows: This subspecies usually grows into a tall, glaucous tree to 20m
Foliage: Both juvenile and adult leaves are heart shaped, opposite and glaucous, growing up to 10cm long. Some very tall trees develop true adult leaves. This subspecies has square cross section juvenile branchlets.
Flora: The flowers grow in umbles (clusters) of 3 and are cup shaped with a short, pointed, domed cap. As with other Eucalyptus species, when the flower is ready, it sheds its cap to reveal many white/cream stamens cascading out of the bud.
Flowering Season: Flowers appear in late winter through early spring.
Fruiting body: The flower buds mature to larger fruit, up to 13mm in diameter, with 4 sunken valves.
How and where it grows: Scattered locations in the south-east, usually found in high, wetter areas.
Where found: Electrona; Mt Hull above Knights Creek; Moogara, Derwent Valley; and, Sherwood Hill and Herringback west of Pelverata Road.
Other notes: An attractive fast growing tree with glaucous foliage and square section juvenile branchlets. The foliage may be subject to insect attack; prune for size and shape.

Eucalyptus johnstonii

Botanical Name: Eucalyptus johnstonii (E)
Commonly Called: Yellow gum
Botanical Family: Myrtaceae
Grows: This is a medium to tall tree with glossy dark green leaves and colourful bark, typically with a straight trunk which, for mature trees, may be moderately buttressed. Lignotubers develop at the base of the trunk and the steep angled branches are often crooked.
Foliage: The bark sheds in large flakes, strips and/or short ribbons revealing smooth bark. Sometimes, especially when wet, vividly coloured yellow, yellow-green, olive-bronze to pale orange with darker green-grey areas of bark may be seen. The young leaves are opposite, bright glossy green, orbicular or oval with scalloped edges and grow 2.5 to 6cm long by 2.5 to 5cm wide. The adult leaves are alternate, with a flattened 1.3 to 3cm long stem, very glossy bright green, broadly ovate to lanceolate and grow 7 to 15cm long by 1.5 to 5cm wide. The foliage often forms a dark green, dense, conical crown which at higher exposed sites may be weather damaged.
Flora: The ovoid to diamond-shaped, green or dark red buds in umbels of three have two ribs, 5 to 10mm long by 3 to 8mm wide. They shed their flat caps which have prominent knobs to reveal many white to cream stamens which fold out from the bud and the fertile stamens radiate inwards over the style.
Flowering Season: Flowers appear during summer, autumn and/or winter.
Fruiting body: The mature, grey-green, two ribbed capsules (gumnuts), with three or four cells full of many seeds and much chaff, are 5 to 12mm long by 8 to 15mm in diameter, hemispherical to inverted bell-shaped with slightly sunken convex valves.
How and where it grows: This tall tree is found throughout the south eastern mountains and some other scattered locations from 450 to 900 metres in altitude, usually in tall wet forests, growing on poorly drained sedimentary soils.
Where found: Hartz Road, Hartz Mountain National Park; Lake Dobson Road, Mount Field National Park; Coolangatta Road, NW slope of Mt Mangana, South Bruny Island; Mount Roland; Five Mile Rise SE off Cradle Mountain Road Middlesex; Woodbridge Saddle, Woodbridge Hill Road; at the junction of North South and Shoobridge Tracks, around the Springs and many other places on kunanyi/Mount Wellington; White Timber Trail east of White Timber Mountain and throughout the Wellington Ranges in the altitude range.
Other notes: Fast growing, attractive tree with a colourful trunk especially when wet prefers moist soils with full sun; prune for size and shape.

Eucalyptus pulchella

Botanical Name: Eucalyptus pulchella (E)
Commonly Called: White peppermint
Botanical Family: Myrtaceae
Grows: This fine leaf, graceful, small to medium tree with smooth, yellowish-white to grey bark, grows from 9 to 21m high.
Foliage: The leaves are quite narrow, only up to 5mm wide by 5 to 10cm long and alternate along smooth stems. Juvenile and adult leaves are similar.
Flora: Flower buds grow in umbels (clusters) of 7 to 15, are up to 5mm in diameter, club shaped, and have a roundish cap.
Flowering Season: Buds open to flower in winter.
Fruit: The flowers mature to form hemispherical fruit up to 6mm in diameter with valves level with the rim of the fruit.
How and where it grows: A common medium to tall tree in dry open forest from 100 to 500m altitude in the State’s south-east on dolerite soils.
Where found: Knocklofty, Meehan Range and Risdon Brook Reserves; Mount Rumney and Single Hill, Mount Nelson, Tinderbox Hills and many other dolerite hills around Hobart; Tasmanian Bushland Gardens, Buckland and beyond up the east coast as far north as Douglas River.
Other notes: Requires well drained soils with full sun, prune for size and shape.

Eucalyptus risdonii

Botanical Name: Eucalyptus risdonii (E)
Commonly Called: Risdon peppermint
Botanical Family: Myrtaceae
Grows: This species can be a beautiful small tree up to 3m high, a medium tree up to 8m high or, sometimes an open mallee form tree, often with a crooked trunk.
Foliage: The stems, branches and leaves are all glaucous (a whitish, waxy bloom, coloured blue-green, which may be removed by rubbing). The juveline leaves forming a ring around the stems, are oval or roundish with a pointed tip. The adult leaves, if present, may be up to 10cm long, also glaucous, and lanceolate in shape.
Flora: The club-shaped buds grow in umbels (clusters) of 7 to 15 or more in the juvenile leaf axils, and have a round cap which, when the time is right, is expelled by the enlarging white/cream stamens.
Flowering Season: The flowers appear through spring and summer.
Fruit: The hemispherical fruit have valves slightly below or level with the rim and are up to 1cm in diameter.
How and where it grows: South east Tasmania has several rare Eucalyptus species. This is another of them. It is restricted to gentle to moderately steep slopes on mudstone in the Meehan Range near Hobart, from sea level to 200m.
Where found: Government Hills Reserve East Risdon; Knopwood Hill, Howrah; Meehan Range, Cambridge; Gathering Bush Hill, Dulcot; Saddle between Mt Mather and Beauvais Hill, Sandford; and a few other possible places around Hobart.
Other notes: A beautiful tree when grown in good conditions in a garden. The silvery grey foliage is very attractive and useful in floral arrangements and the flowers are an excellent source of nectar for bees and birds.

Eucalyptus subcrenulata

Botanical Name: Eucalyptus subcrenulata (E)
Commonly Called: Alpine yellow gum
Botanical Family: Myrtaceae
Grows: This small to medium subalpine tree typically grows 10 to 20m tall at about 1100m, or taller to 50m in lower sites.
Foliage: The trunk of this species has smooth yellow-green to pale grey bark which peels in short strips to near ground level. The juvenile leaves are glossy green, oval to roundish, and 3 to 7cm long, while the adult leaves are gloosy green, oval to lanceolate with scalloped edges and up to 11cm long.
Flora: The conical buds grow in umbels (clusters) of 3 in the adult leaf axils, and have a conical cap which is expelled by the ring of white stamens.
Flowering Season: The flowers appear through Summer and autumn.
Fruit: Shaped like tiny bells about 8mm in diameter, the fruit have valves a little above the rims, and remain closed on the trees for many years.
How and where it grows: Locally common on the Central Plateau and mountains of the south and west between 750 and 1,200m.
Where found: Along the Overland Track between Windy Ridge and Narcissus in the Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park, on the rise south of Wombat Moor along Lake Dobson Road and around the Urquhart Track in Mount Field National Park and other locations in both parks within the range of altitudes mentioned.
Other notes: Distinguished by its yellow/green trunk when the old bark drops or is stripped, especially if wet, this high altitude eucalypt with glossy green leaves is cold tolerant and suitable for most soils. It is the penultimate species in “An Altitude Progression of Eucalypts” (see Eucalyptus coccifera above).

Eucalyptus tasmaniensis

Botanical Name: Eucalyptus tasmaniensis (E)
syn. E. delegatensis subsp. tasmaniensis
Commonly Called: Gum-topped stringybark
Botanical Family: Myrtaceae
Grows: This tall tree has a medium dense canopy of dull blue-green leaves and lightly fibrous bark, typically with a straight, often buttressed trunk.
Foliage: The bark sheds in thin ribbons revealing smooth white-cream bark with bluish-grey streaks. The upper surfaces of younger branches are crimson while the lower sides are slightly glaucous, mottled blue-grey or greenish. The trees’ crowns are usually a little sparse with a dull blue-grey appearance and aging leaves become crimson red. The young leaves, with negligible stems, are prominently oblique and opposite for a couple of pairs. Both sides are dull green with a tough pliable texture, 8-18cm long x 3-8cm wide, ovate with smooth edges and, as they age, hang vertically. The alternate adult leaves with angular or groved 8 to 20mm long stems, have both sides very glossy dark green or sparsely glaucous-blue. They have a tough pliable texture and are sickle-lanceolate to broadly-lanceolate shaped. They grow 8 to 20cm long by 3 to 7.5cm wide with more or less conspicuous veins.
Flora: The club-shaped, reddish buds, often mottled white, in umbels of 7 to 15, even up to 20, with 8 to 15mm tapered round or angular stems, are 6 to 8mm long. They shed their hemispherically conical caps which often have a short flexible tip to reveal many white to cream stamens which irregularly fold in and out of the bud and are all fertile.
Flowering Season: Flowers appear from later spring through summer to early autumn.
Fruiting body: The mature red-brown fruit (gumnuts), with three to five cells full of many homogenous, pale/mid-brown seeds, are 8 to 12mm long by 6 to 10mm in diameter. They are shaped like spinning tops or cut off-pears with slightly sunken concave valves.
How and where it grows: This very tall tree is found throughout the State except for the west, far north west and far north east from about 500 to 1,000 metres in altitude. It usually is the highest species in tall wet forests growing in fertile, high rainfall soils and at higher altitudes may be found in pure copses.
Where found: Hermons Road, east of Hartz Mountain; Lake Dobson Road and many other places in Mount Field National Park; Mount Misery west of Grove; at the start of Jacobs Ladder and many other places in Ben Lomond National Park; Cradle Mountain Road Middlesex; Pinnacle Road around the Springs, the Octopus Tree beside the Shoobridge Track and other tracks on kunanyi/Mount Wellington; throughout the Wellington Ranges in the altitude range; Mount Roland; many other places around Tasmania in the altitude range.
Other notes: A fast growing tall tree with a straight trunk, relatively free of side branches especially in tall forests, which make this species an ideal commercial timber tree. They should have been widely planted in suitable revegetation areas for many years for future timber production.

Eucalyptus tenuiramis

Botanical Name: Eucalyptus tenuiramis (E)
Commonly Called: Silver peppermint
Botanical Family: Myrtaceae
Grows: This species is most commonly a small to medium tree ranging in height from 8 to 25m with all parts glaucous and often with pendulous branches. In some mudstone locations mallee form plants (small trees with multiple trunks) are found. Further, in some coastal locations, especially on the Tasman Peninsula, the salt laden winds have caused this species and many others to evolve in a process called ‘gigantism’ with thicker leaves and for this species less or no glaucous coatings. It is referred to as the ‘dolerite-coastal’ form.
Foliage: The juvenile leaves of the most commonly found and grown form have a pointed or rounded tip, are oval to round, up to 8cm long, glaucous and joined in pairs around the stem, whereas the ‘dolerite-coastal’ form’s juvenile foliage is rarely or not at all glaucous. The adult leaves are up to 13cm long, green or bluish and lanceolate (like the tip of a lance or spear, broad in the half nearest the stem and tapered toward both the stem and especially the tip).
Flora: The buds are glaucous, club shaped with a round or slightly pointed tip, and grow in umbels of 7 to 15 or more.
Flowering Season: Flowers appear from mid spring through summer.
Fruit: The fruit is green/yellow, hemispherical in shape or slightly pear shaped with the valves level or slightly recessed below the rim.
How and where it grows: Restricted to the lowlands and hills of the south and east, usually on mudstone or sandstone soils. Some small populations occur on granitic gravels on Freycinet Peninsula and others on weather exposed dolerite on Tasman Peninsula.
Where found: Mount Direction Nature Conservation Area; Meehan Range Nature Recreation Area; east of Wellington Park; Tasman and Freycinet National Parks and along the Kaoota Tramway Track.
Other notes: A beautiful tree for the gardens with sandy soil and some space. Eucalyptus tenuiramis is the most widely found glaucous eucalypt species in the bush around Hobart and has sometimes been confused with Eucalyptus risdonii or Eucalyptus morrisbyi. However, these species are each only found in small swathes or groups in a few locations.

Eucalyptus urnigera

Botanical Name: Eucalyptus urnigera (E)
Commonly Called: Urn gum
Botanical Family: Myrtaceae
Grows: This species grows as a small to medium tree typically from 6 to 15m high. When conditions are suitable it may grow as high as 45m with a small buttress at its base. In other locations it may grow in a mallee form.
Foliage: Juvenile leaves are opposite for a number of pairs, stalkless, green at lower altitudes and grey glaucous at upper altitudes, 3 to 6cm by 3 to 6cm wide, orbicula to elliptical with crinkled edges. Adult leaves glossy, dark green, then becoming grey-blue and lightly glaucous at upper altitudes, 5 to 12 and sometimes to 15cm long by 2 to 4cm wide, lanceolate with smooth or slightly wavey edges.
Flora: The buds, 3 in the umbel with a 2.5cm stalk, are glaucous or green/brown, 8 to 12mm long by 4 to 6mm wide, and cylindrical urn-shaped with a flat cap that has a small central protrusion. When the buds mature and expel their caps, the stamens, all fertile, unfold inwards.
Flowering Season: Flowers appear in summer
Fruit: The mature fruit are 10 to 15 or up to 18mm long by 7 to 12mm in diameter with stalks 10 to 15mm long, and are green to reddish brown or glaucous in colour. They are usually urn or slightly-rimmed barrel shaped and have 3 or 4 deeply enclosed valves sloping down toward the centre of the vessel.
How and where it grows: Trees of this species grow between about 600 to 1100m in open mountain or subalpine woodlands of the southern Central Plateau, south-east highlands, and Bruny and Maria Islands.
Where found: West down the hill from the Pinnacle Road along the Big Bend Trail, along the Organ Pipes Track and along the Old Hobartians Track down hill from Hunters Track junction in kunanyi/Mount Wellington; along the northern side of Lake Dobson Road, west of Lake Fenton dam wall, in Mount Field National Park.
Other notes: In the home garden or public park this tree requires well drained, moist soils with full sun, and should be pruned for size and shape.

Eucalyptus vernicosa

Botanical Name: Eucalyptus vernicosa (E)
Commonly Called: Varnished gum
Botanical Family: Myrtaceae
Grows: This species is believed to be the smallest of all the eucalyts, growing from only 0.5 to 2m high by 1 to 2+m wide. Some trees of this species grow prostrate while others grow in mallee form with multiple trunks. They all have well developed a lignotuber (a prominent swelling at the bottom of the trunk with multiple dormant new stem buds) and the trunks copice freely.
Foliage: The glossy, dark green, juvenile foliage has no stems for a few pairs then it has short stems. These leaves may be opposite for many pairs and are 1 to 3cm long by 0.5 to 1.5cm wide. The adult leaves, also glossy and dark green, grow 1 to 3.5cm long by 0.7 to 2.5cm wide, elliptical to oval shaped, very thick with a thickened edge. The warty young stems are yellow-green. The grey/brown branches are rough and flaky.
Flora: Buds in umbels of 1 to 3, often single due to loss of side buds, variable roundish shapes, 5 to 8mm long by 3 to 5mm wide, stemless and dark green with a conical cap. When the buds mature and expel their caps, the stamens, all fertile, unfold inwards.
Flowering Season: The flowers may be seen in late spring through to early autumn.
Fruit: Mature fruit are grey-green to brown, 5 to 8mm long to 5 to 7mm across and bell, half sphere to spinning top shaped with 3 or 4 almost sunken valves, sometimes protruding beyond the rim, with tips upward pointed.
How and where it grows: Wide spread from 300 to 1,200m on exposed, flat areas and ridges, and higher mountains of conglomerates, quartzites and schists or heavy, peaty doleritic soils. Usually associated with other species which tolerate exposed conditions such as alpine cushion plants and Richea scoparia.
Where found: Along the boardwalk to and beside Lake Esperance in Hartz Mountain National Park; Mount Louisa saddle, Sentinel Range along the Gordon River Road, Mt Solitary in Lake Pedder, near Mt Eliza and Lake Picone in Southwest NP; Frenchmans Cap area, north of Sharlands Peak, Mount Humbolt, Mount Sprent and Hamilton Range in Franklin Gordon Wild Rivers NP; Mount Osmund in South West Conservation Area; Mt Bertha on the ridge N of summit in Donaldson River Nature Recreation Area.
Other notes: This species is suitable for high altitude gardens, constantly moist, cool garden locations or a regularly watered pot in a suitably shady, cool position.

Eucryphia lucida

Botanical Name: Eucryphia lucida (E)
Commonly Called: Leatherwood
Botanical Family: Eucryphiaceae
Grows: This large shrub or tree grows 6 to 12m high and 2 to 3m wide.
Foliage: The round tipped leaves are glossy green on top, white underneath and 2 to 4cm long. The buds and new leaves on the tips of the stems are covered by a sticky resin which is exuded from stem tip glands to protect from snow and ice. Small brown stipules in the new leaf axils drop off as the leaves develop.
Flora: The white, rarely pink, strongly scented flowers grow singly in the axils of side stems near the tips of branches. These attractive flowers have four large roundish petals, nectar producing glands at the base of the filaments and many prominent stamens on which the pollen changes to burgundy when mature.
Flowering Season: Flowers may be seen in summer through to early autumn.
Fruit: The leathery fruit is a capsule which, when dry, splits into two boat shaped parts packed with winged seeds.
How and where it grows: The distribution is mainly in moist rainforests which haven’t been burnt for many years in the south western third of the state. Huon and Picton River Valleys; many other places in the following areas: Hartz Mountain Road in Hartz NP; around Ducane Hut on the Overland Track in Cradle Mountain area, Echo Point on Lake St Claire and Watersmeet Track, in the Cradle Mountain Lake St Claire NP; Lake Dobson Road in Mount Field NP; in the Gordon Franklin Wild rivers and Southwest National Parks; and, in the Tarkine and Waratah area NW Tasmania among other western area places.
Other notes: This iconic Tasmanian tree is the source of the renowned and distinctively flavoured Leatherwood honey. Many apiarists set hives in the locations mentioned in summer through to the end of autumn for their honey bees to collect this delicious honey. Sadly climate change, bush fires and timber harvesting have drastically reduced the number of trees thus affecting the harvest of this special honey, as is their slow regrowth. In a home garden, it can be long flowering but requires well drained, moist soils for most months with part/full sun. It may be pruned for size and shape and tolerates most frosts.

Eucryphia milliganii

Botanical Name: Eucryphia milliganii (E)
Commonly Called: Dwarf leatherwood
Botanical Family: Eucryphiaceae
Grows: This much branched shrub or small tree grows prostrate or erect to 3m tall by 1 to 1.5m wide.
Foliage: The leaves are opposite, dark green, shiny on top, white or hairy under with a blunt tip, and 1 to 2cm long with a short stalk. E. milliganii subsp. milliganii, Dwarf leatherwood, has smooth oblong leaves, whereas E. milliganii subsp. pubescens, Hairy dwarf leatherwood, has slightly hairy oval leaves.
Flora: The 7 to 11cm diameter flowers, with four roundish petals, have prominent burgundy-tipped stamens and up to 1cm long stalks. They grow in the upper leaf axils.
Flowering Season: The flowers may be seen in summer through to early autumn.
Fruit: The leathery fruit is a capsule which, when dry, splits into two boat shaped parts packed with winged seeds.
How and where it grows: E. milliganii subsp. milliganii is mainly found north of latitude 43oS usually above 800m altitude. It may be seen along the Harts Peak and Lake Osborne Tracks in Hartz Mountains National Park; Lake Webster Track and other places in Mount Field NP; many locations around Lakes Pedder and Gordon; Macquarie Harbour and in high level rain forest further north. Whereas E. milliganii subsp. pubescens is usually found south of latitude 43oS over a wide range of altitudes. It may be seen along the Square Tarn and Mount Picton Tracks; The South Cape Range area; New River Lagoon area; Cox Bight area; and many other places in the Southwest National Park.
Other notes: A difficult species to keep alive in a suburban garden because it needs constant watering and a very cold season to produce flowers.

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A Guide to Tasmanian Flora
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