Eucalyptus nitida
{{Short description|Species of eucalyptus}}
{{Speciesbox
|name = Smithton peppermint
|image = Eucalyptus nitida.jpg
|image_caption = Trunk of Eucalyptus nitida
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
|page=e.T133376811A133376813 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T133376811A133376813.en |access-date=26 June 2023}}
|genus = Eucalyptus
|species = nitida
|authority = Hook.f.{{cite web|title=Eucalyptus nitida|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/74369|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=13 November 2019}}
|synonyms =
- Eucalyptus amygdalina var. nitida (Hook.f.) Benth.
- Eucalyptus australiana var. nitida (Hook.f.) Ewart
- Eucalyptus simmondsii Maiden
}}
Eucalyptus nitida, commonly known as the Smithton peppermint,{{cite web |title=Eucalyptus nitida |url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/eucalyptus_nitida.htm |publisher=Euclid: Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research|access-date=31 May 2020}} is a species of tree or mallee that is endemic to Tasmania. It has varying amounts of loose, fibrous or flaky bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of nine to fifteen, white flowers and cup-shaped to hemispherical fruit.
Description
Eucalyptus nitida is a tree that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|40|m}}, or a mallee to {{cvt|5|m}}, and it forms a lignotuber. It has smooth cream-coloured to greyish bark but older or larger specimens have rough, fibrous or flaky bark on the trunk and sometimes the larger branches. Young plants and coppice regrowth have sessile leaves that are lance-shaped to elliptical, {{cvt|45-85|mm}} long and {{cvt|10-30|mm}} wide arranged in opposite pairs and stem-clasping. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same shade of glossy green on both sides, {{cvt|55-130|mm}} long and {{cvt|6-17|mm}} wide, tapering to a petiole {{cvt|4-17|mm}} long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of between nine and fifteen on an unbranched peduncle {{cvt|2-9|mm}} long, the individual buds on pedicels {{cvt|1-6|mm}} long. Mature buds are club-shaped, {{cvt|3-5|mm}} long and {{cvt|3-4|mm}} wide with a rounded to conical operculum. Flowering occurs from November to January and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, cup-shaped, hemispherical or conical capsule {{cvt|4-8|mm}} long and {{cvt|5-9|mm}} wide with the valves near rim level.{{cite web |last1=Chippendale |first1=George M. |title=Eucalyptus nitida |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Eucalyptus%20nitida |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra |access-date=13 November 2019}}
Taxonomy and naming
Eucalyptus nitida was first formally described in 1856 by Joseph Dalton Hooker in his book, The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror. III. Flora Tasmaniae.{{cite web|title=Eucalyptus nitida|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/455052|publisher=APNI|access-date=13 November 2019}}{{cite book |last1=Hooker |first1=Joseph Dalton |title=The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839-1843 :under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross |date=1856 |publisher=Reeve Brothers |location=London |pages=137–138 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/90337#page/269/mode/1up |access-date=13 November 2019}} The specific epithet (nitida) is from the Latin nitidus meaning "shining", referring to the leaves of this species.
Distribution and habitat
Smithton peppermint is widespread in northern, western and southern Tasmania and also occurs on some Bass Strait Islands. It grows in forest from sea level to hills and plateaus, sometimes as a mallee in coastal sand dunes.