Eucalyptus tetrodonta
species of plant
Eucalyptus tetrodonta, commonly known as Darwin stringybark or messmate, and known to the Yolngu peoples of Arnhem Land as gaḏayka, meaning "the word" or "message", is a species of medium-sized to tall tree that is endemic to northern Australia. It has rough, stringy or fibrous bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped leaves arranged in opposite pairs, flowers buds in groups of three, whitish to cream-coloured flowers and cylindrical fruit.
Description
Eucalyptus tetrodonta is a tree that typically grows to a height of 9–25 m (30–82 ft) and forms a lignotuber. It has rough, fibrous or stringy, grey over reddish brown bark on the trunk and branches. Young plants and coppice regrowth have egg-shaped to broadly lance-shaped leaves that are the same shade of dull bluish green on both sides, arranged in opposite pairs, 150–350 mm (5.9–13.8 in) long and 35–120 mm (1.4–4.7 in) wide. Adult leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, the same shade of dull bluish green on both sides, lance-shaped to broadly lance-shaped or curved, 90–240 mm (3.5–9.4 in) long and 10–35 mm (0.39–1.38 in) wide, tapering to a petiole 11–26 mm (0.43–1.02 in) long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of three on an unbranched peduncle 3–17 mm (0.12–0.67 in) long, the individual buds on pedicels up to 9 mm (0.35 in) long. Mature buds are oval to pear-shaped, 8–13 mm (0.31–0.51 in) long and 6–12 mm (0.24–0.47 in) wide with a rounded operculum. Sometimes there are four ribs on the sides of the operculum. Flowering occurs between June and September and the flowers are whitish or cream-coloured.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Eucalyptus tetrodonta” as species of plant. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of plant. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7213073. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Eucalyptus tetrodonta” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.