''Angophora bakeri'', commonly known as the narrow-leaved apple, is a species of tree that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to New South Wales. It has rough, fibrous bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three or seven, white or creamy white flowers and oval to cylindrical fruit.

Description

''Angophora bakeri'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...

. It has rough, fibrous grey bark on the trunk and branches. Young plants and

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeated ...

regrowth have linear to narrow lance-shaped leaves that are more or less

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

, long, wide and arranged in opposite pairs. Adult leaves are thin, glossy green, paler on the lower surface, linear to narrow lance-shaped, long, wide on a petiole long, and arranged in opposite pairs. The flower buds are arranged on the ends of branchlets in groups of three or seven on a peduncle long, the individual buds on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

long. Mature buds are long and wide. There are five

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s up to long and the

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are about long and wide. Flowering occurs from December to February and the flowers are white or creamy white. The fruit is an oval to cylindrical, pale brown or grey capsule long and wide with ribbed sides.

Taxonomy and naming

''Angophora bakeri'' was first formally described in 1913 by

Edwin Cuthbert Hall Edwin Cuthbert Hall (1874–1953) was an Australian physician and philanthropist who through a bequest funded the Edwin Cuthbert Hall Chair of Middle Eastern Archaeology within the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sydney. In 1973, ...

in the '' Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

honours

Richard Thomas Baker Richard Thomas Baker (1 December 1854 – 14 July 1941) was an Australian economic botanist, museum curator and educator. Early life Baker was born in Woolwich, England, son of Richard Thomas Baker, a blacksmith, and his wife Sarah, née Colkett. ...

. In 1986, G.J.Leach described two subspecies in the journal'' Telopea'' and the names have been accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

: * ''Angophora bakeri'' subsp. ''bakeri'' has thin, flexible leaves and is widely distributed; * ''Angophora bakeri'' subsp. ''crassifolia'' G.J.Leach has rigid, relatively thick leaves and is mostly only known from the

Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is a national park on the northern side of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The park is north of the Sydney central business district and generally comprises the land east of the M1 Pacific Motorway, sout ...

Distribution and habitat

Narrow-leaved apple grows in sandy soil over sandstone and is widespread and locally abundant from Port Stephens to

Nowra Nowra is a city in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south-southwest of the state capital of Sydney (about as the crow flies). As of the 2021 census, Nowra has an estimated population of 22,584. Situated in th ...

and as far west as Katoomba. There is also a disjunct population, previously known as ''Angophora exul'', now a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''A. bakeri'' subsp. ''bakeri'' in the

Gibraltar Range National Park Gibraltar Range is a national park in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, north-east of Glen Innes and north of Sydney. The Park is part of the Washpool and Gibraltar Range area of the World Heritage Site Gondwana Rainforests of Au ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4242117 bakeri Flora of New South Wales Trees of Australia Plants described in 1913