Life would be so much easier…..
Y’know, life would be so much easier if plants could read books, they’d know important things like where they should grow, when they should flower and what they should look like. It would save me a lot of confusion. I’ll often find plants where, according to the books (and websites) they don’t occur, or don’t flower that season or the descriptions just don’t fit.
One of these which just doesn’t fit the description is Bundy, or Large Leaf Box (Eucalyptus nortonii) in the Timor area (between Scone and Nundle), it fits all the criteria of the description except that leaves, flowers and fruits are too big.
How big? Well, according to Plantnet the leaves are supposed to be 15-30 centimetres long, however…..
These are around 40 cm long, however I have found them to over 50cm.the gumnuts are similarly oversize.
I’ve found Eucalyptus nortonii in other areas of the Hunter with “normal” size leaves so these just seem to be a local variation
The tree itself is generally to around 15 metres in height, with a fibrous-flaky “’box” type bark, juvenile leaves are opposite, orbiculate (rounded) and glaucous (blue-grey), adult leaves are normally 15-30cm by 1.5 to 3 cm wide (but as we’ve seen the ones in the Timor area haven’t read the book) grey/green or glaucous, with flowers in groups of 7, it grows on shallow rocky soils south from about Manilla.
