Eucalyptus sparsifolia

Eucalyptus sparsifolia, commonly known as the narrow-leaved stringybark, is a tree endemic to New South Wales. It has grey to reddish brown, stringy bark, glossy green lance-shaped leaves, spindle-shaped flower buds and more or less spherical fruit.

Description
Eucalyptus sparsifolia is a tree that grows to a height of 20 m with grey to reddish brown, stringy bark. The leaves on young trees are glossy green, hairy, broadly lance-shaped 20-50 mm long, 2-4 mm wide and a lighter colour on the lower side. Adult leaves are narrow lance-shaped, often curved, the same glossy green on both sides, 70-135 mm long and 10-22 mm wide on a petiole 10-18 mm long. The flowers are arranged in groups of mostly between nine and eighteen on an angular or flattened peduncle 5-15 mm long, individual flowers on a cylindrical pedicel up to 1-3 mm long. The mature buds are green to yellowish, oval to spindle-shaped, 4-6 mm long and about 2 mm wide. The operculum is cone-shaped with a beaked tip, shorter than or about as long and wide as the flower cup. The stamens are white. Flowering mainly occurs from September to December. The fruit is a globe-shaped, slightly flattened capsule, 5-8 mm long and wide.

Taxonomy and naming
Eucalyptus sparsifolia was first formally described in 1934 by William Blakely who published the description in A Key to the Eucalypts. The specific epithet (sparsifolia) is derived from Latin ("sparse-leaved"), referring to the crown but is probably a misnomer.

This species was formerly included with E. oblonga which included trees with a wide range of leaf widths. Those with broader leaves are now included in E. globoidea.

Distribution and habitat
The narrow-leaved stringybark is widespread and abundant in forest and woodland in the Sydney region and as far inland as the Pilliga forest.