''Eucalyptus ancophila'' is a tree

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 a small area of

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 eastern Australia. It has grey "ironbark", glossy green, lance-shaped leaves, flower buds arranged in a branching

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

with seven oval to diamond-shaped buds in each

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

, white flowers and conical or barrel-shaped fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus ancophila'' is a tree with rough, grey "ironbark" that grows to a height of , sometimes with smooth pale grey bark on its thinner 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 four-sided stems and egg-shaped, later lance-shaped leaves, that are a paler shade of green on the lower side. The blade of the adult leaves are lance-shaped long and wide and only slightly paler on the lower side. The flower buds are arranged in a branching inflorescence, each branch with an umbel of seven buds. The groups have a peduncle long and the individual flowers 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 ...

long. The buds are oval to diamond-shaped, long and wide with a beaked to conical operculum that is shorter and narrower than 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 ...

. Flowering has been recorded in November and the flowers are white. The fruit is a cone-shaped or barrel-shaped capsule long and wide on a pedicel long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus ancophila'' was first formally described in 1990 by

Lawrie Johnson Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson FAA, (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian taxonomic botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, for the whole of his professional career, as a botanist (1948� ...

and Ken Hill and the description was published in '' Telopea'' from a specimen collected near Kempsey. 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 ...

(''ancophila'') is from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

words ''ankos'' meaning "mountain glen" or "valley" and ''philos'', meaning "dear one" or "friend" referring to this species' habitat.

Distribution and habitat

This eucalypt usually grows along creeks or in the bottom of valleys in the Kempsey and Bellingen districts.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15397505 ancophila Myrtales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Trees of Australia Plants described in 2003