''Eucalyptus umbra'', known as the broad-leaved white mahogany, 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 northern New South Wales. It has rough, fibrous to stringy bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven to fifteen, white flowers and cup-shaped to hemispherical fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus umbra'' 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 ...

. 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 repeate ...

regrowth have

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 ...

leaves that are broadly egg-shaped to lance shaped, long, wide, held horizontally and arranged in opposite pairs with the bases surrounding the stem. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same shade of green on both sides, lance-shaped to curved, long and wide, tapering to a petiole long. The flower buds are mostly arranged in

panicles A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are o ...

on the ends of branchlets on a 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 oval, about long and wide with a conical to beaked operculum. Flowering occurs from September to February and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped to hemispherical capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level or below it.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus umbra'' was first formally described in 1901 by

Richard Thomas Baker Richard Thomas Baker (1 December 1854 – 14 July 1941) was an Australian economic Botany, botanist, museum curator and educator. Early life Baker was born in Woolwich, England, son of Richard Thomas Baker, a blacksmith, and his wife Sarah, née ...

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 ...

''. The specific epithet 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 "shade" or "shadow", possibly referring to the shade provided by the tree.

Distribution and habitat

The broad-leaved white mahogany occurs in the high rainfall coastal areas of New South Wales between Sydney and Grafton. It grows in dry sclerophyll forest or woodland, usually on poor shallow dry soils. It differs from the white mahogany ('' Eucalyptus latisinensis'') of coastal Queensland in having broader juvenile leaves. ''Eucalyptus umbra'' is part of the white mahogany group as recognised by Ken Hill. Others in the group include '' E. acmenoides'', '' E. mediocris'', '' E. carnea'', '' E. apothalassica'', '' E. helidonica'', '' E. psammitica'' and '' E. latisinensis''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5405725

umbra The umbra, penumbra and antumbra are three distinct parts of a shadow, created by any light source after impinging on an opaque object. Assuming no diffraction, for a collimated beam (such as a point source) of light, only the umbra is cast. T ...

Myrtales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Trees of Australia Plants described in 1901 Taxa named by Richard Thomas Baker