The Eucalyptus pauciflora is a variety of tree that can be seen in the mountainous regions of southeastern Australia, specifically in New South Wales. These trees are commonly found in subalpine woodlands and are able to grow in areas where trees typically struggle due to high elevations.
The Snow Gum, which is sometimes referred to as Cabbage Gum or White Sally, is a type of tree or mallee that is native to eastern Australia. Its characteristics include smooth bark, leaves with a lace-like or elliptical shape, clusters of flower buds ranging from seven to fifteen, white flowers and cup-shaped, conical, or hemispherical fruit. It is typically found in woodlands in colder areas that are situated above 700 meters (2,300 feet) altitude.
The Eucalyptus pauciflora is a tall tree or mallee with a rough trunk that can reach up to 20-30 meters high. The bark of this tree is smooth and comes in different hues, including white, grey, or yellow. It sheds off in strips and may contain insect markings at times. As for the foliage, the leaves of new plants and regrowth are bluish-green or glaucous, and have a unique broad lace-shaped to egg-shaped look. They can range from 44-170 mm in length and 20-85 mm in width.
When fully mature, the leaves of this plant have a glossy green hue on both sides and come in diverse shapes such as curved, elliptical, or lacy. Their length can range anywhere from 60 to 200 mm, while their width can vary from 12 to 50 mm. Typically, they taper off into a petiole that measures between 8 and 33 mm in length. The buds of the plant grow in clusters of seven to fifteen, and sometimes even more, and are located in the leaf axils. These buds develop on an unbranched peduncle that is about 3 to 15 mm long, with each individual bud having its own pedicel that can stretch up to 6 mm in length.
The plant’s fully developed buds are oval-shaped and range from 4 to 8 mm long and 3 to 5 mm wide. They feature a conical or rounded operculum. From October to February, white flowers bloom during the flowering season. The fruit is a woody capsule that takes on a cup-like, conical, or hemispherical shape and measures around 5 to 11 mm in both length and width.
Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel officially documented Eucalyptus pauciflora in 1827, using Franz Sieber’s unpublished explanation as a reference. The explanation was published in Systema Vegetabilium. The Latin title ‘pauciflora’ means ‘few-flowered’, but there is a possibility that this term might be misleading as it could have resulted from the transportation of a specimen that had lost its buds.
