Eucalyptus delegatensis
Common names
alpine ash
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
White
Detailed description
Medium to tall tree reaching 60 m. Leaves of young shoots are mostly sessile or nearly so, opposite, blue-green and elliptical up to about 8 cm long; then ovate, or broadly falcate with oblique bases, bluish-green and pendulous until up to 25 cm long by 10 cm wide. Adult leaves are lanceolate to falcate, oblique, green and up to 18 cm long by 3 cm wide, with distinct open veination. The clavate-shaped flower buds are 6 mm long and give rise to white flowers in clusters of 7-15. The seed capsule is barrel or pear-shaped, thick-rimmed and 1.2 cm long (Salmon 1999)
Similar taxa
Stocking of fibrous bark, somewhat falcate and glaucescent leaves with an oblique base, 7-15 buds per cluster.
Habitat
Terrestrial. Regenerating near old plantations.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Threats
This taxon may be prone to Myrtle Rust (Austropuccinia psidii) is an invasive fungus which threatens myrtle species - learn more myrtlerust.org.nz
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Myrtaceae
Ecology
Flowering
January, February, March
Year naturalised
1957
Origin
Mountain areas of Tasmania, Victoria and S. N.S.W.
Reason for introduction
Forestry
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial.
Other information
Etymology
eucalyptus: From the Greek eu ‘good or well’ and calypha ‘covered’, alluding to the calyx which covers the flower like a lid.
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
Manaaki Whenua Online Interactive Key
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
EUCDEL