Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Silver Box

(Eucalyptus pruinosa)

galery
en

Description

Eucalyptus pruinosa, commonly known as silver box, silver leaf box, apple box or smoke tree, is a mallee tree that is native to Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The Jaminjung peoples know the tree as yarrirra or jarnbiny, the Jaru know the tree as wararn and the Wagiman know it as wararn. The tree or less often mallee typically grows to a height of 2 to 7 metres (7 to 23 ft) in height but can reach as high as 9 m (30 ft). It can bloom throughout the year producing inflorescences with cream yellow flowers. It can have single or multiple stems forming a lignotuber. Bark is rough and grey incolour, the bark is box-type extends to the small branches. It is flaky and fissured, at time it has a wavy pattern, sometimes becoming tessellated on older trunks. The crown of mature tree is composed of only juvenile leaves. Adult leaves do not form on this species. The concolorous, dull, glaucous, rarely green leaves have an opposite arrangement. The leaf blade usually cordate or broadly elliptical and has a length of 4.5 to 16 centimetres (1.8 to 6.3 in) and a width of 2.5 to 10.5 cm (1.0 to 4.1 in) with a rounded or pointed apex. Each terminal inflorescence is 0.3 to 2.6 cm (0.12 to 1.02 in) long with seven buds per umbel with rounded to angular and thickish peduncles. Mature buds are scarred and have a fusiform to ovbovoid or pyriform shape and are 0.6 to 1.2 cm (0.24 to 0.47 in) in length and 0.3 to 0.5 cm (0.12 to 0.20 in) wide. The pedicellate fruits have a cylindrical to obconical shape with a narrow descending disc and four rim-level exserted valves. The fruits are 0.5 to 1.1 cm (0.20 to 0.43 in) in length with a width of 0.5 to 0.8 cm (0.20 to 0.31 in) and contain blackish brown, flattened to ovoid seeds.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Myrtales
Family:Myrtaceae
Genus:Eucalyptus
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