Eucalyptus morrisbyi Brett

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Credits

Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton

Recommended citation
'Eucalyptus morrisbyi' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/eucalyptus/eucalyptus-morrisbyi/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Common Names

  • Morrisby's Gum

Glossary

glaucous
Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).

References

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Credits

Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton

Recommended citation
'Eucalyptus morrisbyi' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/eucalyptus/eucalyptus-morrisbyi/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Tree to 15 m. Bark pale brown, grey, white or pink and smooth throughout; rough, scaly bark can develop at the base of old trees. Branchlets pinkish red. Juvenile leaves opposite, sessile, roughly circular, glaucous and with crenulate margins. Adult leaves thin and greyish green to glaucous, 5–10 × 1.2–2.3 cm, lanceolate, lateral veins indistinct, margins entire to undulate, apex acuminate; petiole terete, 1.2–2 cm long. Inflorescences solitary and axillary; umbellasters with three flowers. Flower buds turbinate and glaucous; hypanthium 0.4–0.7 cm wide; stamens white or cream. Capsule cylindrical and glaucous, 0.5–0.6 cm diameter; valves four to five, included. Chippendale 1988. Distribution AUSTRALIA: Tasmania (southeast). Habitat Dry, sclerophyllous forest on sandy soils, usually by the sea. USDA Hardiness Zone 9. Conservation status Endangered. Only four stands survive and these are threatened by habitat destruction and degradation.

Eucalyptus morrisbyi is closely related to E. gunnii and shares much of its hardiness, despite its origin close to the coast. It has a certain advantage over E. gunnii in looks, having better, smoother and paler bark, and more glaucous foliage borne on pink branches, the combination making it rather beautiful and well worth planting. Young trees at Lullingstone were unaffected by the 2005 November frosts, and elsewhere it has done very well. It is not common in cultivation but there is an 8 m specimen at Mount Usher, rather suppressed by having been planted below other big eucalypts.