''Eucalyptus elata'', commonly known as the river peppermint or river white gum, is a species of medium to tall tree that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to eastern Australia. It has rough, compacted bark on the lower trunk, smooth bark above, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, green to yellow flower buds arranged in groups of eleven to thirty or more, white flowers and hemispherical or shortened spherical fruit. Eucalyptus elata buds

Description

''Eucalyptus elata'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of , rarely a mallee to , 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 respons ...

. It has rough, compact, dark grey bark, with narrow longitudinal fissures on the lower trunk. The bark on the upper trunk and branches is smooth, shedding in long ribbons often remaining in the crown, leaving a grey, cream-coloured or whitish surface. Young plants and

coppice Coppicing is the traditional method in woodland management of cutting down a tree to a tree stump, stump, which in many species encourages new Shoot (botany), shoots to grow from the stump or roots, thus ultimately regrowing the tree. A forest ...

regrowth have leaves arranged in opposite pairs, lance-shaped to curved, long and wide. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same glossy green on both sides, lance-shaped to curved, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of between eleven and thirty or more in leaf

axil A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, fl ...

s on an unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds on a pedicel long. Mature buds are club-shaped, 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, hemispherical or shortened spherical capsule long and wide with the valves enclosed below the rim.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus elata'' was first described in 1829 by Friedrich Dehnhardt in his book, ''Catalogus Plantarum Horti Camaldulensis''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''elata'') is a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word meaning "exalted", "high" or "lofty".

Distribution and habitat

River peppermint usually grows along watercourse but sometimes also in undulating country, on rocky ridges or on scree slopes in forest. It grows near the coast and nearby tablelands south from

Putty PuTTY () is a free and open-source terminal emulator, serial console and network file transfer application. It supports several network protocols, including SCP, SSH, Telnet, rlogin, and raw socket connection. It can also connect to a se ...

in New South Wales to eastern Victoria.

Uses

Use in horticulture

''E. elata'' is widely cultivated as a street and ornamental tree for its beautiful upper smooth bark, rich green foliage and profusion of flowers that appear in spherical masses.

Essential oils

The leaves of ''E. elata'' have been distilled commercially for a piperitone based

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the ...

.Boland, D.J., Brophy, J.J., and A.P.N. House, ''Eucalyptus Leaf Oils'', 1991,

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2709149 elata Myrtales of Australia Trees of Australia Flora of Victoria (state) Flora of New South Wales Flora of the Australian Capital Territory Plants described in 1829