Eucalyptus capitellata, commonly known as Brown Stringybark, is a tree native to New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

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Description

It grows as a tree up to 25 metres tall, with stringy red-brown bark, 10–17 centimetre long green leaves, and white or cream flowers clustered in inflorescences of from seven to 13 flowers.

Taxonomy

Specimens of E. capitellata were first collected by First Fleet

First Fleet

The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...

 surgeon and naturalist John White

John White (surgeon)

John White was an English surgeon and botanical collector.White was born in Sussex and entered the Royal Navy on 26 June 1778 as third surgeon's mate. He was promoted surgeon in 1780, and was the principal surgeon during the voyage of the First Fleet to Australia...

. An image of the fruit of this species was published by James Edward Smith

James Edward Smith

Sir James Edward Smith was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society.Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a precocious interest in the natural world...

's 1790 Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, but incorrectly ascribed to E. piperita

Eucalyptus piperita

Eucalyptus piperita, commonly known as Sydney Peppermint and Urn-fruited Peppermint, is a small to medium forest tree native to New South Wales, Australia.-Description:...

. E. capitellata was eventually published by Smith in his 1793 A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland

A specimen of the botany of New Holland

A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland, also known by its standard abbreviation Spec. Bot. New Holland, was the first published book on the flora of Australia. Written by James Edward Smith and illustrated by James Sowerby, it was published by Sowerby in four parts between 1793 and 1795...

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The species' taxonomy has remained fairly clear. In 1790, George Bentham

George Bentham

George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterized by Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".- Formative years :...

 published a putative variety, E. capitellata var. latifolia, but this is now considered a synonym of E. baxteri

Eucalyptus baxteri

The brown stringybark is a eucalypt which is native to Australia's southeast, occurring from southern New South Wales through Victoria and into the Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island of eastern South Australia. It is a medium-sized tree which can reach 40 m in height. The rough stringy bark...

. Other than the resultant autonym

Autonym (botany)

In botanical nomenclature, autonyms are automatically created names, as regulated by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature . Autonyms are cited without an author. Relevant provisions are in articles 6.8, 22.1-3 and 26.1-3....

 E. capitellata var. capitellata, the species itself has no taxonomic synonyms, although E. prominula, now considered a synonym of E. youmanii, was ascribed to E. capitellata between 1991 and 1999. A hybrid of this species with E. piperita is thought to be the basis for the name E. pseudo-piperita.