Red Ironbark

Appearance

"Eucalyptus sideroxylon" is a tree that typically grows to a height of 25–35 m and forms a lignotuber. The bark is dark grey to black, deeply furrowed ironbark on the trunk and larger branches, smooth white to grey on the thinnest branches. Young plants and coppice regrowth have lance-shaped to oblong or linear leaves that are 30–110 mm long and 5–35 mm wide. Adult leaves are lance-shaped, the same shade of green on both sides, 50–140 mm long and 10–40 mm wide tapering to a petiole 5–25 mm long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils on an unbranched peduncle 7–29 mm long, the individual buds on pedicels 3–15 mm long. Mature buds are oval or diamond-shaped, 6–15 mm long and 4–6 mm wide with a conical to beaked operculum. Flowering occurs from April to December and the flowers are white, red, pink or creamy yellow. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped to shortened spherical capsule 5–11 mm long and 5–10 mm wide with the valves below the level of the rim.

Naming

Allan Cunningham recorded the name "Eucalyptus sideroxylon" in Thomas Mitchell's 1848 "Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia" but did not provide a description of the plant. The first formal description of the species was published in 1887 by William Woolls in "Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales". The specific epithet is derived from the ancient Greek words, meaning "iron" and, meaning "wood".

Two subspecies of "E. sideroxylon" are accepted by the Australian Plant Census as at December 2019:
⤷  "Eucalyptus sideroxylon" subsp. "improcera" A.R.Bean is a small, stunted tree and has shorter, wider leaves than the autonym and longer flower buds;
⤷  "Eucalyptus sideroxylon" A.Cunn. ex Woolls subsp. "sideroxylon".

Distribution

Mugga ironbark is widespread and often abundant in woodland from south-eastern Queensland through New South Wales to Victoria. Subspecies "improcera" is only known from the Barakula State Forest north-northwest of Chinchilla.

Habitat

Mugga ironbark is widespread and often abundant in woodland from south-eastern Queensland through New South Wales to Victoria. Subspecies "improcera" is only known from the Barakula State Forest north-northwest of Chinchilla.

Uses

The leaves are used in the production of cineole based eucalyptus oil.

Apiarists in New South Wales place hives in red-ironbark woodlands to collect the honey.