Eucalyptus aurifodina, commonly known as the small-leaved brown stringybark is a rare small tree that is endemic to the goldfields area of Victoria. It has rough, stringy bark on its trunk and branches, glossy green elliptic to egg-shaped adult leaves, oval or slightly club-shaped buds arranged in groups of seven to eleven, white flowers and hemispherical fruit.
Description
Eucalyptus aurifodina is a tree, sometimes with several trunks, growing to a height of with rough, grey, stringy bark on the trunk and branches. The leaves on young plants are egg-shaped, shiny green on the upper surface and whitish below, long and wide on a petiole up to long. The adult leaves are mostly elliptic to egg-shaped, long and wide on a petiole up to long. They are more or less the same colour on both surfaces. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven to eleven in leaf axils on a thin peduncle long, the individual buds on a pedicel long. The mature buds are oval to slightly club-shaped with a conical operculum long and wide. Flowering occurs in early autumn and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody capsule long and wide on a pedicel long.
Taxonomy and naming
Eucalyptus aurifodina was first formally described in 2012 by Kevin James Rule and the description was published in the journal Muelleria from a specimen collected near Maldon. The specific epithet (aurifodina) is derived from the Latin word aurifer meaning "gold-bearing", referring to the species distribution.
Distribution and habitat
The small-leaved brown stringybark is a rare tree that grows in dry woodland in stony places between Castlemaine and Avoca in Victoria, Australia.
References
Flora of Victoria (state) Trees of Australia aurifodina Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 2012