Eucalyptus oleosa

Eucalyptus oleosa, red mallee, is one of the most widespread mallee eucalypts of southern Australia, occurring across southern Western Australia, most of South Australia, north-western Victoria and southwestern New South Wales on sandy or loamy soils overlying limestone. As its growth form indicates, plants regrow as multiple stems from a large lignotuber after fire, typically forming a many-stemmed open canopy 11 to 12 m tall. The bark is rough and persistent at the base, smooth and grey, copper or yellowish higher up where it is shed in long ribbons each summer. Adult leaves are alternate, narrow-lanceolate to lanceolate, glossy green and rich in essential oils, about 130 mm long and 19 mm wide. Inflorescences of seven to eleven creamy-yellow buds open in November and December to display flowers with numerous projecting yellow stamens. Fruits are hemispherical to slightly urn-shaped woody capsules with prominent valves. The species is hardy, salt-, drought- and frost-tolerant, and a significant commercial source of cineole-rich eucalyptus oil.