''Eucalyptus fibrosa'', commonly known as the red ironbark, broad-leaved red ironbark or broad-leaved red ironbark, is a species of medium-sized to tall tree

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 eastern Australia. It has grey to black ironbark, lance-shaped to egg-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between seven and eleven, white flowers and conical fruit. Eucalyptus fibrosa buds

Description

''Eucalyptus fibrosa'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has rough, grey to black, sometimes flaky ironbark from the base of the trunk to the thinner branches. Young plants and coppice regrowth have

petiolate Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, a ...

, egg-shaped to more or less triangular or round leaves that are long, wide and a slightly lighter shade of green on one side. Adult leaves are lance-shaped to egg-shaped, the same shade of green on both sides, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged on the ends of branchlets in groups of seven, nine or eleven on a branching 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 spindle-shaped, long and wide with a conical to horn-shaped operculum. Flowering has been recorded in most months and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, conical capsule long and wide with the valves close to rim level. Some other ironbarks occurring in the same area including '' E. siderophloia'', '' E. rhombica'' and '' E. decorticans'' are similar but all have smaller buds and fruit, and a much shorter operculum than that of ''E. fibrosa''.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus fibrosa'' was first formally described in 1859 by Victorian state botanist

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

in 1859 from a collection from the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the Go ...

and the description was published in '' Journal and Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany''. 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 ...

(''fibrosa'') apparently refers to the bark, although possibly an inappropriate name for an ironbark. In 1962, Lawrie Johnson and Robert Anderson described two subspecies 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 ...

: * ''Eucalyptus fibrosa'' F.Muell.subsp. ''fibrosa''; * ''Eucalyptus fibrosa'' subsp. ''nubilis'', (Maiden & Blakely) L.A.S.Johnson commonly known as the blue-leaved ironbark, differs from the autonym in having

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

buds and fruit. This subspecies had previously been known as ''Eucalyptus nubilis'' Maiden & Blakely.

Distribution and habitat

Red ironbark grows in forest on shallow, relatively infertile soil. It is widespread on the coast, tablelands and nearby inland areas from near

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

in Queensland to

Moruya Moruya is a town located on the far south coast of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Moruya River. The Princes Highway runs through the town that is about south of Sydney and from Canberra. At the , Moruya had a population of 4 ...

in New South Wales.

Conservation

This species is listed as "least concern" under the Queensland Government

Nature Conservation Act 1992 The ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'' is an act of the Parliament of Queensland, Australia, that, together with subordinate legislation, provides for the legislative protection of Queensland's threatened biota. As originally published, it prov ...

Gallery

Image:EucalyptusfibrosaWP1.jpg, trunk and regrowth with intermediate leaves at Wiley Park Image:Eucalyptus fibrosa flowers.jpg, flowers and buds

References