''Eucalyptus umbra'', known as the broad-leaved white mahogany, is a species of small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to northern New South Wales. It has rough, fibrous to stringy bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven to fifteen, white flowers and cup-shaped to hemispherical fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus umbra'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. 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

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

leaves that are broadly egg-shaped to lance shaped, long, wide, held horizontally and arranged in opposite pairs with the bases surrounding the stem. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same shade of green on both sides, lance-shaped to curved, long and wide, tapering to a petiole long. The flower buds are mostly arranged in

panicles A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle ar ...

on the ends of branchlets on a peduncle long, the individual buds on pedicels long. Mature buds are oval, about long and wide with a conical to beaked operculum. Flowering occurs from September to February and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped to hemispherical capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level or below it.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus umbra'' was first formally described in 1901 by

Richard Thomas Baker Richard Thomas Baker (1 December 1854 – 14 July 1941) was an Australian economic botanist, museum curator and educator. Early life Baker was born in Woolwich, England, son of Richard Thomas Baker, a blacksmith, and his wife Sarah, née Colkett ...

in '' Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales''. The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "shade" or "shadow", possibly referring to the shade provided by the tree.

Distribution and habitat

The broad-leaved white mahogany occurs in the high rainfall coastal areas of New South Wales between Sydney and Grafton. It grows in dry sclerophyll forest or woodland, usually on poor shallow dry soils. It differs from the white mahogany ('' Eucalyptus latisinensis'') of coastal Queensland in having broader juvenile leaves. ''Eucalyptus umbra'' is part of the white mahogany group as recognised by Ken Hill. Others in the group include '' E. acmenoides'', '' E. mediocris'', '' E. carnea'', '' E. apothalassica'', '' E. helidonica'', '' E. psammitica'' and '' E. latisinensis''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5405725 umbra Myrtales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Trees of Australia Plants described in 1901 Taxa named by Richard Thomas Baker