Product Description

Eucalyptus pellita is a medium-size to large tree, up to 40 m in height and 1 m in diameter at breast height. At its best, it has a straight trunk to about a half of the tree height and a large, heavily branched crown. The bark is rough and persistent to the small branches, shortly fibrous, shallowly to coarsely fissured, thick and brown to reddish-brown. Leaves of seedlings opposite for about 4-7 pairs then alternate, petiolate, ovate, 5-15 x 1.6-7 cm, green, discolorous; juveniles are alternate, petiolate, ovate, 14-21 x 7-8.5 cm, green, discolourous; adult leaves alternate, petiolate, usually tapered to a long, fine point, broad-lanceolate to lanceolate, 10-15 x 2-4 cm, green, strongly discolourous. Inflorescence simple, axillary, usually 7 flowered (rarely 3 or 9); penduncles broad, flattened, 1-2.5 cm long; pedicles occasionally absent, but usually stout, angular, 1-9 mm long; buds with obconical hypanthia, usually with ribs continuing from the angular pedicles, 9-21 x 6-12 mm; operculum shape very variable, generally rostrate and about 1-1.5 times the length of the hypanthium. Fruits sessile or shortly pedicellate, hemispherical to obconical, often slightly ribbed, 7-14 x 7-17 mm; disc broad, more or less level; valves usually 4, exserted; operculum scar prominent (usually broader than disk), concave. The genus Eucalyptus was described and named in 1788 by the French botanist l’Héritier. The flowers of the various Eucalyptus species are protected by an operculum, hence the generic name, from the Greek words ‘eu’ (well), and ‘calyptos’ (covered). The specific name comes from the Latin word ‘pellitus’, meaning ‘covered with a skin’, which probably refers to the epidermis of the leaves. The type description refers to the moderately thick covering. The common name refers to the fruit size in comparison with E. resinifera and E. notabilis.