''Eucalyptus acmenoides'', commonly known as white mahogany or barayly,Les Robinson - Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney, page 40 is a 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 else ...

to eastern Australia. It is a large tree with grey to reddish brown, stringy bark, lance-shaped leaves, oval to spindle-shaped buds and more or less hemispherical fruits. The two sides of adult leaves are very different shades of green.

Description

''Eucalyptus acmenoides'' is a tree that grows to a height of or more, although only half that height in dry sites. It has thin stringy or fibrous, grey to reddish brown bark. Leaves on young trees are egg-shaped to broadly lance-shaped glossy green, up to long and wide. Adult leaves are lance-shaped, glossy green but much paler on the lower side, long and wide. The flowers are arranged in groups of mostly between seven and eleven on an angular peduncle long, individual flowers on a cylindrical

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

long. The buds are oval to spindle-shaped, long and wide. The operculum is conical or beak-shaped, about as long and wide as the

flower cup The Flower Cup (Japanese フラワーカップ) is a Grade 3 horse race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies run in March over a distance of 1800 metres at Nakayama Racecourse. The race was first run in 1987 and has been run at Grade 3 level ...

. The fruit is a globe-shaped to hemispherical capsule, long and wide.

Taxonomy

''Eucalyptus acmenoides'' was first formally described in 1843 by

Johannes Conrad Schauer Johannes Conrad Schauer (16 February 1813 – 24 October 1848) was a botanist interested in Spermatophytes. He was born in Frankfurt am Main and attended the gymnasium of Mainz from 1825 to 1837. For the next three years he worked at the Hofgar ...

from a specimen collected by Allan Cunningham in a forest in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in January 1817. The description was published in

Wilhelm Gerhard Walpers Wilhelm Gerhard Walpers (26 December 1816 in Mühlhausen – 18 June 1853 in Berlin) was a German botanist. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing a botanical name. He received his education at the Universities of Greif ...

' book ''Repertorium Botanices Systematicae (Volume 2)''. The specific epithet (''acmenoides'') refers to a similarity to plants in the genus ''

Acmena ''Acmena'' was formerly the name of a genus of shrubs and trees in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. The genus was first formally described in 1828 by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in his '' Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis''. The spec ...

''. This tree is sometimes referred to as the yellow stringybark in parts of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, however, despite the rough and somewhat stringy bark, this tree is considered to be in the ''mahogany'' group of eucalyptus. ''Eucalyptus acmenoides'' is part of the white mahogany group as recognised by Ken Hill. The others in the group are '' E. mediocris'', '' E. apothalassica'', '' E. carnea'', '' E. helidonica'', '' E. latisinensis'', '' E. psammitica'' and '' E. umbra''.

Distribution and habitat

White mahogany grows in wet forest and woodland, in deeper soils with reliable moisture and is found between areas near the Atherton Tableland in

and south to

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea ...

. It is found from sea level to altitudes of . It is most common in warm humid to

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

climates where the annual average rainfall is between .

Timber

White mahogany is well regarded for the high quality of timber. The timber has various uses, including heavy engineering, poles, railway sleepers, bridge and wharf construction, framing, decking stumps, fence posts, joists, flooring, plates and weatherboarding. The sapwood is usually not attacked by the

lyctus Lyctus or Lyttos ( Greek: or ), was one of the most considerable cities in ancient Crete, which appears in the Homeric catalogue. Lyttos is now a village in the municipality of Minoa Pediada. Lyctus in mythology According to Hesiod, ''Theogon ...

borer. Heartwood is light, of a pale yellowish brown. The texture is medium and even. Grain structure is uniform, however at times it can be interlocked. Timber somewhat similar to the tallowwood, but not quite as greasy. Wood resistant to

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blatto ...

s. Timber is hard, heavy, strong, tough and durable. Around 1000 kilograms per cubic metre. File:Eucalyptus seedling.JPG, Seedling of ''Eucalyptus acmenoides'' displaying

cotyledons A cotyledon (; ; ; , gen. (), ) is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant, and is defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first to appear from a germinating seed." The num ...

File:Acmenoides flower Eastwood.JPG, Flowers of ''Eucalyptus acmenoides''

References

* http://www.timber.net.au/?option=com_species&name=White%20Mahogany&Itemid=469 {{Taxonbar, from=Q3024351 acmenoides Myrtales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1843 Taxa named by Johannes Conrad Schauer