Eucalyptus victoriana facts for kids

Eucalyptus victoriana is a special kind of eucalypt tree. It's a small to medium-sized tree that only grows in one place: the Grampians National Park in Victoria, Australia. This tree has rough, stringy bark on its trunk. Its leaves are shaped like eggs or spears. It has white flowers that grow in groups, and its fruit looks like a cup.

What Does it Look Like?

Eucalyptus victoriana is a tree that can grow up to 20 meters (about 65 feet) tall. Sometimes it's much shorter. It has a special woody swelling at its base called a lignotuber. This helps the tree regrow after fires.

Bark and Leaves

The lower part of the trunk has rough, stringy bark. Higher up, the bark is smooth and pale grey or creamy white. The adult leaves are shaped like eggs, ellipses, or spears. They are usually 72 to 150 millimeters (about 3 to 6 inches) long. They are also 20 to 55 millimeters (about 0.8 to 2.2 inches) wide. Each leaf has a stalk called a petiole, which is 9 to 24 millimeters long.

Flowers and Fruit

The flower buds grow in groups of seven to eleven. They appear where the leaf meets the stem (called the axil). These buds sit on a thick, unbranched stalk up to 5 millimeters long. The individual buds don't have their own small stalks.

When the buds are ready, they look warty and oval-shaped. They are about 9 millimeters long and 6 millimeters wide. Each bud has a cap called an operculum. This cap can be cone-shaped or rounded. The flowers themselves are white. After flowering, the tree produces woody, cup-shaped or half-sphere-shaped fruit. These fruits are 5 to 6 millimeters long and 10 to 14 millimeters wide. The parts that open to release seeds are at the same level as the rim, or they stick out a bit.

How it Was Named

Eucalyptus victoriana was first officially described in 1993. Two scientists, Pauline Y. Ladiges and Trevor Paul Whiffin, wrote about it. They published their description in a science journal called Australian Systematic Botany. They found the first samples of this tree on Mount Thackeray in the Grampians National Park in 1987. The second part of its scientific name, victoriana, refers to the state of Victoria in Australia. That's where this tree grows!

Where it Grows

This special eucalypt tree only grows in a small area. You can find it in the Grampians National Park region of Victoria, Australia. It doesn't grow anywhere else in the world!