Plants of
South Australia
Eucalyptus largiflorens
Myrtaceae
Black Box,
River Box
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
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Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
Marree
Mount Gambier
Oodnadatta
Renmark
Wudinna
Keith
Yunta
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 19

Prior names

Eucalyptus bicolor, questionably

Common names

Black Box

River Box

Etymology

Eucalyptus from the Greek 'eu' well and 'calyptos' covered; alluding to the cap or lid which covers the stamens in the bud. Largiflorens from the Latin 'largus' meaning abundant and 'florens' meaning blooming; referring to the plentiful but small and non-showy flowers.

Distribution and status

Found in the eastern part of South Australia, predominately along the Murray River, growing in grassy woodland on heavy clay soils subject to periodic inundation, usually on floodplains. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the other states.
Herbarium regions: Lake Eyre, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Northern Lofty, Murray, Southern Lofty, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Northern and Yorke, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Single-stemmed trees to 20 m high with smooth white bark only on upper branches, rough, deeply furrowed and dark-grey below. Adult leaves to 180 mm long and 20 mm wide, alternate narrow-lanceolate dull- bluish. Flowers in groups of 7-11, terminal. Buds to 5 mm long and 3 mm wide, smooth, bud-cap cone-shaped shorter than the base. Flowers white appearing in winter and summer. Fruits are cup-shaped to barrel-shaped fruit to 5 mm long and 5 mm wide, smooth, contracted slightly at the orifice, with a narrow rim and descending disk, valves 3-5 enclosed below the rim. Seeds are brown ovoid seed to 4 mm long and 3 mm wide. Seed embryo type is folded.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between January and December. Collect mature fruits that are dark and hard (difficult to break with a finger nail) with the valves un-open any time of year. Leave the fruits in a breathable container in a dry room for at least a week. This allows the valves on the fruit to open and release the seeds. Separate the seeds by placing all the materials into a bucket and shaking it to dislodge the seeds. Pass the material through a sieve to separate the unwanted material. The finer material will contain both seeds (soft) and frass (hard) usually distinguishable from each other but can be very similar in shape and colour. With finer sieves, the seeds can be separated from the frass but this is not essential for storage or propagation. Seeds are non-dormant, viable seed should germinate readily.

Germination table:
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