Eucalyptus albens

Eucalyptus albens, the white box, is a medium-sized tree in the family Myrtaceae endemic to the inland slopes and tablelands of eastern Australia. It grows 15-25 m tall with a single straight trunk clothed at the base in rough, fibrous, pale grey to brownish bark and above in smooth white to creamy bark that is shed annually in long ribbons. Juvenile leaves are egg-shaped, glaucous and bluish-grey, 90-150 mm long; the alternate adult leaves are lance-shaped and dull greyish-green, 100-160 mm long. Flower buds are arranged in groups of seven in leaf axils or at the ends of branchlets, the operculum spindle-shaped. White flowers open from March to May and are followed by urn-shaped to barrel-shaped woody capsules 6-14 mm long. The species is the principal canopy tree of the white box grassy woodland community, on fertile clay and clay-loam soils across the western slopes of New South Wales and into southern Queensland and northern Victoria.