''Eucalyptus kartzoffiana'', commonly known as the Araluen gum, is a species of medium-sized tree that is endemic to a small area of southeastern New South Wales. It has rough, fibrous or flaky bark on part or most of its trunk, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three, white flowers and sessile, bell-shaped fruit. Eucalyptus kartzoffiana Batemans Bay

Description

''Eucalyptus kartzoffiana'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has rough, fibrous, scaly or flaky, greyish bark on part or most of the trunk, smooth white, grey or cream-coloured bark above. Young plants and coppice regrowth have sessile,

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 ...

, egg-shaped or heart-shaped leaves long and wide. Adult leaves are the same dull bluish green on both sides, lance-shaped to curved, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of three on an unbranched

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

long, the individual buds sessile. Mature buds are cylindrical, long and wide and often glaucous, with a rounded to conical operculum. Flowering occurs in February and the flowers are white. The fruit is a sessile, woody, bell-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves protruding above the rim. The fruit is glaucous at first.A Field Guide to Eucalypts - Brooker & Kleinig volume 1, page 187

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus kartzoffiana'' was first formally described in 1973 by Lawrie Johnson and Donald Blaxell from a specimen collected in 1978 by Johnson on the Braidwood road near Araluen. The description was published in ''Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium''. 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 ...

(''kartzoffiana'') honours Michael Eugene Kartzoff.

Distribution and habitat

The Araluen gum has a restricted distribution on granite-derived soils south-east of Braidwood, where it grows in woodland and forest.

Conservation status

This eucalypt is classified as "vulnerable" under the Australian Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' and the New South Wales Government '' Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016''. The main threats to the species include its small population size, land clearing, management of grazing land, roadside maintenance and herbicide use.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5405606 Myrtales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Trees of Australia