Eucalyptus cordata

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids  >  Myrtaceae > Eucalyptus cordata

Other links:     

Plant  information

Common name:                Heart-leaved Silver Gum

Conservation status:  Not threatened

Etymology:   

• The name Eucalyptus is from the Ancient Greek words eu meaning 'good'and kalypto meaning '(I) cover, conceal, hide', referring to the operculum covering the flower buds 

• The specific epithet (cordata) is a Latin word meaning "heart-shaped" referring to the leaves

Flowers:                  

• The flower buds are arranged in groups of three in leaf axils on a peduncle 2–9 mm long, the individual buds sessile or on a very short pedicel

• Mature buds are oval to club-shaped, green or glaucous, 9–13 mm long and 7–9 mm wide with a rounded, flattened or beaked operculum

• Flowering has been observed in most months, with peaks between May and June, September and November, and the flowers are white

Fruit:                         

• The fruit is a woody cup-shaped, cylindrical or hemispherical capsule 

• 7–13 mm long and 9–15 mm wide and sessile or on a very short pedicel

Leaves:         

• Its crown is mostly composed of juvenile leaves and adult leaves are usually only found at the top of the tallest trees

• The leaves of young plants, coppice regrowth and mature plants have sessile leaves arranged in opposite pairs

• The leaves egg-shaped to almost round, 30–55 mm long and 20–55 mm wide with wavy edges

• Adult leaves, only present in the crown of tall trees, are arranged alternately, lance-shaped, 75–130 mm long and 20–38 mm wide on a flattened petiole 15–20 mm long

Stem & branches: 

• It has smooth greenish yellow to brown or grey bark throughout and has glaucous branchlets

• Larger trees sometimes have rough bark on the lower part of the trunk

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A shrub to medium-sized tree 

• It is a scraggy shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of between 3 and 25 m and forms a lignotuber

Habitat:   

• Intermediate altitudes on foothills 

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to Tasmania

• It has a restricted distribution in the south-east of Tasmania

• At intermediate altitudes, such as on the foothills of Mount Wellington, on the Snug Plains and around Port Arthur and Moogara

  • Subspecies cordata mainly occurs south from Triabunna and is found on Bruny and Maria Islands

  • Subspecies quadrangulosa is centred on the Wellington Range but is most prolific on the Snug Plains

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy and naming

  • Eucalyptus cordata was first formally described in 1806 by Jacques Labillardière who published the description in Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen

  • In 2008, Dean Nicolle, Brad Potts and Gay McKinnon described two subspecies and the names have been accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

    • Eucalyptus cordata Labill. subsp. cordata, that has branchlets that are circular in cross section

    • Eucalyptus cordata subsp. quadrangulosa D.Nicolle, B.M.Potts & McKinnon, that has branchlets that are square in cross-section

• Use 

  • The tree makes an attractive ornamental with its large, glaucous juvenile leaves, which often persist in the crown

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_cordata (2023)