''Eucalyptus aromaphloia'', commonly known as Creswick apple-box, scented bark or scent-bark, is a species of plant in the myrtle

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. It is a tree with rough, densely fibrous bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, oval to spindle-shaped flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and conical to hemispherical fruit. Eucalyptus aromaphloia flowers

Description

''Eucalyptus aromaphloia'' is a tree that 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 respons ...

. It has thick, rough, dark grey fibrous bark on its trunk and branches, with smooth

salmon pink Salmon is a warm color ranging from light orange (colour), orange to pink, named after the color of salmon flesh. The first recorded use of ''salmon'' as a color name in English language, English was in 1776. The actual color of salmon flesh va ...

bark on the thinnest branches. 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 oblong to elliptic leaves long, wide tapering to a short

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

. Adult leaves are lance-shaped or curved, long, wide on a petiole long. The flowers are arranged in unbranched groups of seven 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 a peduncle long, the individual buds on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

usually up to long. The mature buds are green with a red tinge, oval to spindle-shaped, long, wide with a conical operculum. Flowering occurs in winter and the flowers are white. The fruit is cup-shaped to hemispherical, long and wide. The leaves are dark green on both sides, with prominent veins. Flowering occurs from January to March and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, conical to hemispherical capsule long and wide.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus aromaphloia'' was first formally described in 1954 by

Lindsay Pryor Lindsay Dixon Pryor Order of Australia, AO (26 October 1915 – 17 August 1998) was an Australian botanist noted for his work on ''Eucalyptus'' taxonomy and his role in the landscape design of Canberra, including the foundation of the Australian N ...

and James Willis from a specimen collected on Mount Langi-Ghiran near Ararat. The description was published in ''

The Victorian Naturalist ''The Victorian Naturalist'' is a bimonthly scientific journal covering natural history, especially of Australia. It is published by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria and is received as part of the membership subscription of that club. From ...

''. 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 ...

(''aromaphloia'') is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

words ''aroma'' meaning "smell" or "spice" and ''phloios'' meaning "bark", referring to the smell of the bark. Pryor and Willis noted that the bark is "always very aromatic (when rubbed or crushed)" but other authors remark that "no exceptional small can be detected in the bark, and the common name "scent bark" is misleading." In 1996

Ian Brooker Murray Ian Hill Brooker Order of Australia, AM (2 June 1934 – 25 June 2016), better known as Ian Brooker, was an Australian botanist. He was widely recognised as the leading authority on the genus ''Eucalyptus''. Ian Brooker was born in Adelai ...

and

Andrew Slee Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

informally noted ''E. aromaphloia'' subsp. ''sabulosa'', but that name has since been referred to '' E. sabulosa''.

Distribution

Creswick apple-box grows in flat or slightly undulating areas of open forest. It occurs from near Malmsbury west to the

Grampians The Grampian Mountains () is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian range extends northeast to so ...

and south-west to

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

and the

Brisbane Ranges National Park The Brisbane Ranges National Park is a national park in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, The national park is situated approximately west of Melbourne near the town of and is managed by Parks Victoria. The park covers part ...

with a disjunct population near Anglesea.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15399999 aromaphloia Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1954 Flora of Victoria (state) Trees of Australia