''Eucalyptus moluccana'', commonly known as the grey box, gum-topped box or terriyergro, is a medium-sized to tall tree with rough bark on part or all of the trunk, smooth bark above, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds usually in groups of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped to barrel-shaped fruit. It is found in near-coastal areas of Queensland and

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 ...

Description

''Eucalyptus moluccana'' 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 persistent rough, fibrous or flaky bark on part or all of the trunk, smooth whitish or light grey bark above, sometimes with a shiny surface. 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 egg-shaped leaves that are paler on the lower surface, long, wide and petiolate. Adult leaves are lance-shaped to broadly lance-shaped, the same glossy green on both sides, long and wide on a petiole long and with many oil glands. The flower buds are arranged on the ends of branchlets in groups of usually seven, on a branched peduncle wide, 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. The buds are spindle-shaped to diamond-shaped, long and wide with a conical operculum. Flowering has been recorded in most months and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped to barrel-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves enclosed.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus moluccana'' was first formally described in 1832 by

William Roxburgh William Roxburgh FRSE FRCPE Linnean Society of London, FLS (3/29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815) was a Scottish people, Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known ...

in his ''Flora Indica; or descriptions of Indian Plants''. 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 ...

refers to the

Moluccas The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...

, islands of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

but is a misnomer. The

Dharawal The Dharawal people, also spelt Tharawal and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people, identified by the Dharawal language. Traditionally, they lived as hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans with ties of kinship, s ...

people know this species as terriyergro.

Distribution and habitat

Grey box is widespread on the coastal plains and ranges northwards from

Jervis Bay Jervis Bay () is a oceanic bay and village on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, said to possess the whitest sand in the world. A area of land around the southern headland of the bay is a territory of the Commonwealth of Australia ...

in New South Wales to the area between

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

and

Mackay Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airpor ...

in Queensland. Further north there is a substantial gap, with occurrences in the ranges from west of Paluma to the southern part of the

Atherton Tableland The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. The principal river flowing across the plateau is the Barron River. It was dammed to form an irrigation reservoir named Lake Tina ...

and two small disjunct patches east of Clermont near

Eungella Dam Eungella Dam is an earth and rockfill dam in the locality of Eungella Dam, Mackay Region, Queensland, Australia. It is one of Queensland's freshwater fisheries. Eungella has made a name for producing extra oversized sooty grunter and more rece ...

.Brooker, M.I.H. & Kleinig, D.A. ''Field Guide to Eucalyptus'', Bloomings, Melbourne 2001 File:Eucalyptus moluccana - leaves.jpg, leaves File:Eucalyptus moluccana - bark and leaves.jpg, bark and leaves File:Eucalyptus moluccana - trunk bark.jpg, trunk bark File:Eucalyptus moluccana - upper branch bark.jpg, upper branch bark File:Eucalyptus moluccana - fruit.jpg, fruit

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q583226 moluccana Myrtales of Australia Trees of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Taxa named by William Roxburgh