Blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis)
Description
Blackbutt can grow to 50 metres in height, and a trunk diameter of 4.1 metres.Though is mostly seen between 20 and 45 metres tall. Like many large eucalyptus species, the maximum height in the past is difficult to determine. Maximum heights of the blackbutt may have reached greater sizes than the largest trees still standing today. Blackbutt is a potential giant, of immense size.Blackbutt has dark fibrous grey-brown spongy bark covering the lower part of the trunk, which comes away in strips. The bark higher up and on the branches is a glossy cream, occasionally with scribbles from insect larvae. The branchlets are square in cross section. Juvenile specimens are conspicuous, with pairs of opposite, broad-lanceolate leaves, much paler below the leaf than above which may reach 17 cm (6.7 in) long by 4 cm (1.6 in) wide.Blackbutt is a Eucalyptus species without a lignotuber.The adult leaves are arranged alternately on the stem, lanceolate to slightly sickle shaped, 9 to 16 cm (3.5 to 6.3 in) long, and 1.5 to 3 cm (0.59 to 1.18 in) wide. Asymmetrical at the base, they are oblique in shape. The leaves are same shade of glossy to dark green above and below the leaf. The leaf stems are four sided or squarish with a flanged edge in cross section.Flowering occurs from September to March. The inflorescences are simple on the stem, and situated at the leaf axil, and consist of 2 to 15 white flowers. Peduncles flattened 1 to 1.7 cm long. Pedicels angular 0.3 to 0.6 cm long. The club- or spindle shaped flower buds are 0.8 to 1.1 cm long and 0.4 to 0.5 cm wide. The cap of the flower bud is cone shaped or beaked. The gumnuts are hemispherical or truncate globular in shape, 1.1 by 1.1 cm (0.43 by 0.43 in) in size. Gumnuts similar to the related stringybark group, however with longer stems. There are four valves inside the gumnut. The disc is either flat, ascending or descending.Regeneration from seed is easily accomplished.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Myrtales
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Family: Myrtaceae
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Genus: Eucalyptus
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