''Eucalyptus populnea'', commonly known as poplar box, bimble box or bimbil 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 else ...

to eastern Australia. It has rough, fibrous or flaky bark on the trunk and branches, egg-shaped, elliptical or more or less round leaves, flower buds arranged in groups of seven to fifteen or more, white flowers and conical, hemispherical or cup-shaped fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus populnea'' 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, fibrous or flaky, greyish bark on the trunk and larger branches, smooth grey bark that is shed in short ribbons from the 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 repeate ...

regrowth have egg-shaped to almost round, dull greyish green leaves that are long and wide. The

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

has leaves that are the same shade of glossy green on both sides, egg-shaped, elliptical or more or less round leaves that are long and wide tapering to a petiole long. The flower buds are mostly arranged on the ends of branchlets in groups of seven to fifteen or more, on a branched 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 oblong to spherical, long and wide with a conical to rounded operculum. Flowering occurs from August to December and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, conical, hemispherical or cup-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level.

Taxonomy

''Eucalyptus populnea'' was first formally described in 1858 by botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in '' Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany''. The specific epithet ''populnea'' is a Latin adjective referring to the poplar-like foliage. The common names bimble box and bimbil box are from the

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...

name for the species. Other common names recorded include round-leaf box, red box, white box, egolla, nankeen gum, round-leaved box and shiny-leaf box. In 1990,

Lawrie Johnson Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, FAA, (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic botany, botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Garden ...

and Ken Hill described two subspecies, ''populnea'' and ''bimbil'' but the names have not been accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

. Hybrids with ''E. populnea'' have been recorded but only one, ''Eucalyptus populnea''

F.Muell. Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vic ...

× '' Eucalyptus thozetiana'' (F.Muell. ex

Maiden Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

) R.T.Baker is accepted at the Australian Plant Census.

Distribution and habitat

Poplar box is widespread in New South Wales where it is found on the western plains north from

Narrandera Narrandera ( ) until around 1949 also spelled "Narandera", is a town located in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia. The town lies on the junction of the Newell and Sturt highways, adjacent to the Murrumbidgee River, and ...

and

Pooncarie Pooncarie is a village in south-western New South Wales, Australia in Wentworth Shire. It is on the eastern side of the Darling River between Wentworth and Menindee. The surrounding region of Pooncarie is semi-arid with an outback landscape ri ...

, extending into Queensland as far as Rockhampton. It is most abundant in the northern and central sections on the western plains, becoming gradually less common the New South Wales far west, where it is restricted to areas that are more reliably watered and sandier. This eucalypt is most commonly found on red soils with a sandy loam to clay loam texture, growing in association with gum coolibah ('' E. intertexta''), grey box ('' E. microcarpa'') and white cypress pine ('' Callitris glaucophylla''). It can be found less commonly on sandplains composed of deep loamy sands, where it will be found growing with ironwood (''

Acacia excelsa ''Acacia excelsa'', also known as ironwood, rosewood, bunkerman and doodlallie is a tree of the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Plurinerves'' that is endemic to inland parts of north-eastern Australia. In the Gamilaraay language it is known as ...

'') and mulga ('' Acacia aneura''). In the far west of New South Wales it grows in small terminal drainage depressions with sandy soils overlying clay at depth.

Ecology

It is a favoured food tree for koalas in the range where it occurs.

Uses

The flowers of ''E. populnea'' produce honey of a good quality, but of limited supply, and which is very dense and pale amber in colour. The timber has been found to be durable and hard and is suitable for fence posts and construction work. However it is not any easy to work timber and is susceptible to white ant attack. It is a suitable species for a windbreak, as it can be propagated easily and is not difficult to establish. It is an excellent fuel, producing a great deal of heat and burns cleanly.

Conservation

Although it is widespread, the conservation status of ''E. populnea'' and allied plant communities is poor. Along the eastern edge of the species' distribution, only a small remnant of some communities occur on the better soil types. There are also a number of minor communities which only occur in limited areas, with very few of these represented in conservation areas such as national parks or nature reserves. Protected areas in which significant populations can be found include the

Yathong Nature Reserve The Yathong Nature Reserve is a protected nature reserve that is also a nationally and internationally recognized biosphere situated in the central-western region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The reserve was listed by UNESCO in 1 ...

in New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2705540 populnea Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Myrtales of Australia Drought-tolerant trees Trees of Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Plants described in 1858