Brown Barrel

Eucalyptus fastigata is typically a tall, straight tree that grows to a height of 45–60 m (148–197 ft) but does not form a lignotuber. It has rough, fibrous or stringy bark on the trunk and larger branches, smooth white to brown bark above which often hangs in strings in the crown. Young plants and coppice regrowth have petiolate, broadly elliptical to egg-shaped leaves 45–120 mm (1.8–4.7 in) long and 18–50 mm (0.71–1.97 in) wide. Adult leaves are more or less the same glossy green on both sides, lance-shaped to curved, 70–205 mm (2.8–8.1 in) long and 15–36 mm (0.59–1.42 in) wide on a petiole 10–17 mm (0.39–0.67 in) long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of eleven, thirteen fifteen or more, the groups often paired, on a peduncle 4–14 mm (0.16–0.55 in) long, the individual buds on pedicels 1–5 mm (0.039–0.197 in) long. Mature buds are oval or club-shaped, 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in) long and 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) wide with a conical or rounded operculum. Flowering occurs between December and February and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody conical or pear-shaped capsule, 5–9 mm (0.20–0.35 in) long and 4–8 mm (0.16–0.31 in) wide with the valves at about rim level. Eucalyptus regnans is similar to E. fastigata but has rough bark only at the base of the trunk, smaller buds and fruit, and a wider distribution in Victoria.

Brown barrel grows in tall open forest in valleys and on slopes between the Ebor district on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales to the Errinundra Plateau in far north-eastern Victoria. It is widely planted in New Zealand.

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