Snow Gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora)
Description
Eucalyptus pauciflora, commonly known as snow gum or white sallee, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is a small tree or large shrub growing 4–8 m (13–26 ft) tall, occasionally reaching 20 m (66 ft), and native to subalpine and lowland habitats in eastern Australia. It is amongst the hardiest of all eucalyptus species, surviving the severe winter temperatures of the Australian Alps. Other common names include cabbage gum and weeping gum. The bark of Eucalyptus pauciflora is smooth and white to light grey or sometimes brown-red, shedding in patches or strips to give a mottled appearance. The grey-green adult leaves are usually lanceolate to broadly lanceolate with distinct parallel veins, but may be narrowly ovate. The tree is covered in a mass of white flowers in spring and summer. The term pauciflora (few flowers) is a misnomer, and may originate in an early collected specimen losing its buds in transit.Rather than losing its leaves in winter/autumn, the tree is evergreen, adapting to the weight of snow by progressively bending its branches so that the outermost branches extend vertically down and snow is shed from the leaves.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Myrtales
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Family: Myrtaceae
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Genus: Eucalyptus
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