![Eucalyptus quadrangulata leaf](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Eucalyptus_quadrangulata_leaf.jpg)
''Eucalyptus quadrangulata'', commonly known as the white-topped box or coast white box,
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 elsew ...
to eastern Australia. It has rough, fibrous or flaky bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and conical fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus quadrangulata'' 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, greyish brown, fibrous or flaky 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 stems that are square in cross-section and leaves that are arranged in opposite pairs and
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 ...
with their bases surrounding the stem. The juvenile leaves are lance-shaped, paler on the lower surface, long and wide. Adult leaves are the same shade of glossy green on both sides, lance-shaped to curved, long and wide, tapering to a
petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf
axil
A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...
s on an unbranched
peduncle long, the individual buds usually sessile. Mature buds are oval to spindle-shaped, long and about wide with a conical
operculum. Flowering occurs from February to March and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, conical
capsule long and wide with the valves below the level of the rim.
Taxonomy
''Eucalyptus quadrangulata'' was first formally described in 1899 by
Henry Deane and
Joseph Maiden
Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus ''Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing ...
in ''
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales
The Linnean Society of New South Wales promotes ''the Cultivation and Study of the Science of Natural History in all its Branches'' and was founded in Sydney, New South Wales ( Australia) in 1874 and incorporated in 1884.
History
The Society suc ...
''.
Distribution and habitat
White-topped box grows in the slopes and edges on the eastern side of the
Northern and
Central Tablelands
The Central Tablelands in New South Wales is a geographic area that lies between the Sydney Metropolitan Area and the Central Western Slopes and Plains. The Great Dividing Range passes in a north–south direction through the Central Tablelands ...
in New South Wales, between
Dorrigo and
Scone
A scone is a baked good, usually made of either wheat or oatmeal with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often slightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash. The scone is a basic component of th ...
in the north to
Bundanoon
Bundanoon is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire, on Gandangarra and Dharawal Country (where these two countries meet). It is an Aboriginal name meaning "place of deep gullies" and was forme ...
and
Milton
Milton may refer to:
Names
* Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname)
** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet
* Milton (given name)
** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...
in the south. There is also a
disjunct population near
Cunninghams Gap
Cunninghams Gap is a pass over the Great Dividing Range between the Darling Downs and the Fassifern Valley in Queensland, Australia. The Gap is the major route over the Main Range National Park, Main Range along the Great Dividing Range, between ...
in south-eastern Queensland.
[Native Trees of the Central Illawarra Fuller & Mills page 121]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5405684
quadrangulata
Myrtales of Australia
Flora of New South Wales
Flora of Queensland
Trees of Australia
Plants described in 1899