Eucalyptus aurifodina

Eucalyptus aurifodina, commonly known as the small-leaved brown stringybark is a rare small tree that is endemic to the goldfields area of Victoria. It has rough, stringy bark on its trunk and branches, glossy green elliptic to egg-shaped adult leaves, oval or slightly club-shaped buds arranged in groups of seven to eleven, white flowers and hemispherical fruit.

Description
Eucalyptus aurifodina is a tree, sometimes with several trunks, growing to a height of 12 m with rough, grey, stringy bark on the trunk and branches. The leaves on young plants are egg-shaped, shiny green on the upper surface and whitish below, 30-55 mm long and 20-40 mm wide on a petiole up to 4-11 mm long. The adult leaves are mostly elliptic to egg-shaped, 40-80 mm long and 15-30 mm wide on a petiole up to 12-20 mm long. They are more or less the same colour on both surfaces. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven to eleven in leaf axils on a thin peduncle 5-12 mm long, the individual buds on a pedicel 3-5 mm long. The mature buds are oval to slightly club-shaped with a conical operculum 2.5-3.5 mm long and 2-3 mm wide. Flowering occurs in early autumn and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody capsule 5-7 mm long and wide on a pedicel 1-3 mm long.

Taxonomy and naming
Eucalyptus aurifodina was first formally described in 2012 by Kevin James Rule and the description was published in the journal Muelleria from a specimen collected near Maldon. The specific epithet (aurifodina) is derived from the Latin word aurifer meaning "gold-bearing", referring to the species distribution.

Distribution and habitat
The small-leaved brown stringybark is a rare tree that grows in dry woodland in stony places between Castlemaine and Avoca in Victoria, Australia.