Range - Setis

CXCIV. E. Spenceriana Maiden.
Height 20 to 35 feet, but occasionally attaining a height of 50 feet. Trunk to 20
feet and 18 inches diameter. Branches spreading or erect, few, and sparsely
foliaged. Bark light grey, persistent and flaky, rugged or almost smooth, and very
similar in texture to that of the Tuart (E. gomphocephala). Timber dark reddishbrown,
dense with an interlocked grain. Sapwood thin, light yellow. The timber is
termite-resisting. Leaves alternate, narrow lanceolate, drooping vertically, of a
glaucous green, flat, the midrib prominent, but the veins inconspicuous, the
intramarginal close to the edge. Veins at an angle of about 45 degrees to the midrib.
Flowers not seen, but small and apparently white, in loose slender panicles, terminal
or inserted just above the axils, not exceeding the leaves in length. Pedicels slender,
slightly flattened. Calyx-tube turbinate, slightly compressed, tapering into the
slender pedicel. Operculum depressed-conical, the line of separation fairly distinct.
Stamens inflected in the bud. Style short, straight and thick. Fruits thin, ovoid, 3- or
4-valved, the rim thin and truncate, the obtuse points of the valves sunk.
(The above notes are by C. A. Gardner, and refer to Kimberley trees.)
Range
Western Australia.—The common Grey Box of the basaltic areas of the
Kimberleys, and the commonest Eucalypt of the district, and known as “Box” or
“Coolabah.” (I have seen a specimen from Walcott Inlet, Calder River, C. A.
Gardner. No. 1589). The following are Mr. Gardner's notes:
Extending from the Lennard River in the south to Napier, Broome Bay, in the
north, west to Camden Sound and Walcott Inlet, and indefinitely eastwards. The
species covers the granite and basaltic areas of Kimberley, being restricted to this
formation. It often forms pure savannah forests, but its most frequent associate is E.
clavigera, a tree common to both igneous and sedimentary rocks. The foliage is
never a bright green, and from a distance the trees indicate the best pasture land,
their undergrowth being almost entirely Gramineae, with larger shrubs. I have not
seen a tree otherwise than on basaltic or granite country. It was undoubtedly the tree
mentioned in Fitzgerald's Kimberley Report (1907) under the name of E.
microtheca, when he stated “On the plains and frequently sparsely covering the
basaltic hills, Coolibah or Box (E. microtheca) and Bloodwoods (E. terminalis and
E. pyrophora) prevail, often forming open forests of fair extent, the species
ultimately extending to the coast. (I have not seen either E. terminalis or E.