About Eucalyptus melanophloia F.Muell.
Eucalyptus melanophloia F.Muell., more commonly known as silver-leaved ironbark, is typically a tree and only rarely grows as a mallee. It usually reaches a height of 20 to 25 metres (66 to 82 feet) and forms a lignotuber. It has hard, rough, dark grey to black bark covering its trunk and branches. Young plants and coppice regrowth produce leaves that are usually glaucous. These leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, are sessile, and have a round to egg-shaped or heart-shaped form, measuring 20 to 100 mm (0.79 to 3.94 in) long and 13 to 100 mm (0.51 to 3.94 in) wide. The leaf crown of this species is usually made up mostly of juvenile leaves, which are arranged in opposite pairs, are sessile, and have the same dull glaucous colour on both surfaces. These crown leaves range from egg-shaped to heart-shaped or lance-shaped, measuring 35 to 90 mm (1.4 to 3.5 in) long and 20 to 50 mm (0.79 to 1.97 in) wide. Flower buds are arranged at the ends of branchlets in groups of seven, borne on a branching peduncle that is 5 to 15 mm (0.20 to 0.59 in) long. Individual buds sit on pedicels 2 to 9 mm (0.079 to 0.354 in) long. Mature buds are oval to diamond-shaped, 5 to 6 mm (0.20 to 0.24 in) long and 3 to 4 mm (0.12 to 0.16 in) wide, with a conical operculum. Flowering has been recorded in two periods: January and February, and June to August. The flowers are white, and the resulting fruit is a woody, cup-shaped to hemispherical capsule 3 to 8 mm (0.12 to 0.31 in) long and wide, with valves that sit near or below the rim of the capsule. This species grows in woodland on plains and tablelands. It occurs in the eastern half of Queensland south from Mareeba, on the western side of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales north from Dubbo, and in a small number of isolated locations in the Northern Territory.
