''Eucalyptus cinerea'', commonly known as the Argyle apple, mealy stringbark or silver dollar tree, is a species of small- to medium-sized 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 south-eastern Australia. It has rough, fibrous bark on the trunk and branches, usually only juvenile, glaucous, egg-shaped evergreen leaves, flower buds in groups of three, white flowers and conical to bell-shaped fruit. Eucalyptus cinerea leaves

Description

''Eucalyptus cinerea'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of tall 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 thick, fibrous, reddish brown to grey brown, longitudinally fissured bark on the trunk to the small branches. The leaves on young plants and on

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 repeate ...

regrowth are arranged in opposite pairs,

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 ...

, glaucous, broadly egg-shaped to more or less round, up to long and wide. Intermediate leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, glaucous, egg-shaped to lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole up to long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of three in leaf axils on a peduncle long, the individual buds sessile or on a

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 ...

up to long. Mature buds are glaucous, diamond-shaped, long and wide with a conical operculum. Flowering occurs between May and November and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, conical to bell-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves level with the rim or slightly beyond.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus cinerea'' was first formally described by the botanist

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

in 1867 from the herbarium of Ferdinand von Mueller, and the description was published in ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume flora of Australia published be ...

''. The specific epithet (''cinerea'') is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word meaning "ash-coloured" or "grey" referring to the white, waxy bloom on the foliage, buds and fruit of this species. Two subspecies of ''E. cinerea'' have been described and the names 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 cinerea'' subsp. ''cinerea'' has a

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

of mostly juvenile leaves and grows in woodland between

Sofala Sofala, at present known as Nova Sofala, used to be the chief seaport of the Mwenemutapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique. It was founded by Somali merchants. This name w ...

and

Tumut Tumut () is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the banks of the Tumut River. Tumut sits on the north-west foothills of the Snowy Mountains and is located on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri, Wolgalu ...

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 ...

; * ''Eucalyptus cinerea'' subsp. ''triplex'' has a crown with both juvenile and intermediate leaves; and occurs in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...

and

Captains Flat Captains Flat is a town in the Southern Tablelands of rural New South Wales, Australia, in Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council. It is south of Queanbeyan. Captains Flat township is bounded by the non-urban parts of the locality of Captains F ...

in New South Wales. A third subspecies, subspecies ''victoriensis'' was described in 2018. It is the tallest subspecies and has adult leaves in its crown. The

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...

people of

use the name ''gundhay'' for the species.

Distribution and habitat

Argyle apple is typically found from north of Bathurst (33° S), in central west

, to the

Beechworth Beechworth is a well-preserved historical town located in the north-east of Victoria, Australia, famous for its major growth during the gold rush days of the mid-1850s. At the , Beechworth had a population of 3,859. Beechworth's many histor ...

area of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

(36° S). It is often part of grassy or sclerophyll woodland communities growing in shallow and relatively infertile soils usually as part of the understorey. Subspecies ''cinerea'' occurs in the

and

in New South Wales and subspecies ''triplex'' in the

and

in New South Wales. Subspecies ''victoriensis'' is only known from hilly country near

Aboriginal uses

The Wiradjuri people of NSW use the bark and timber of the species to make tools, string and rope, shelters and to make fire.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q763431 cinerea Myrtales of Australia Trees of Australia Flora of Victoria (Australia) Flora of the Australian Capital Territory Flora of New South Wales Trees of mild maritime climate Plants described in 1867 Taxa named by George Bentham

Description

Taxonomy and naming

Distribution and habitat

Aboriginal uses

See also

References