About Eucalyptus stricta Sieber ex Spreng.
Eucalyptus stricta Sieber ex Spreng., also known as Blue Mountains mallee ash, is a mallee that typically grows 5 to 7 meters (16 to 23 feet) tall and forms a lignotuber. Its bark is smooth, mottled, and colored pale grey-brown and pink, often marked with insect scribbles. Young plants and coppice regrowth have glossy green, lance-shaped leaves that measure 70 to 140 millimeters (2.8 to 5.5 inches) long and 15 to 35 millimeters (0.59 to 1.38 inches) wide. Adult leaves are the same shade of glossy green on both sides, linear to lance-shaped, 60 to 110 millimeters (2.4 to 4.3 inches) long and 6 to 16 millimeters (0.24 to 0.63 inches) wide, with a base that tapers to a 5 to 17 millimeter (0.20 to 0.67 inch) long petiole. Flower buds are arranged in groups of seven in leaf axils, on an unbranched 5 to 13 millimeter (0.20 to 0.51 inch) long peduncle, with individual buds on 2 to 7 millimeter (0.079 to 0.276 inch) long pedicels. Mature buds are oval to pear-shaped, 6 to 9 millimeters (0.24 to 0.35 inches) long and 4 to 5 millimeters (0.16 to 0.20 inches) wide, with a conical to rounded operculum. Flowering has been observed in most months, and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody urn-shaped to barrel-shaped capsule 6 to 10 millimeters (0.24 to 0.39 inches) long and 6 to 11 millimeters (0.24 to 0.43 inches) wide, with valves located near or below rim level. This species has a scattered distribution ranging from the Central Coast, through the Blue Mountains, to the Budawangs, and is locally common within this range. It grows in heath and shrubland in shallow, sandy soils on plateaus and ridge-tops.
