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Katherine Box

Eucalyptus distans

Katherine Box
Photo: Ian Brooker and David Kleinig, CC BY 3.0 au

Eucalyptus distans, the Katherine box, is a small eucalypt tree native to northern Australia that grows on low stony ridges in seasonally dry tropical areas. It is a hardy, drought-tolerant tree best grown in full sun with good drainage, and is not a typical houseplant.

Family
Myrtaceae (Myrtle family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then let it dry between waterings; tolerates dry seasons once mature.
Soil
Well-drained, sandy or stony soil; tolerates poor, shallow soils.
Temperature
18–35 °C; protect from frost below 0 °C.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
N. Northern Territory to Queensland
Climate
seasonally dry tropical

About

Eucalyptus distans, commonly known as the Katherine box, is a species of small tree that is endemic to northern parts of Australia. It has rough, fibrous grey bark, dull, narrow lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, creamy white flowers and cup-shaped to hemispherical or conical fruit.

Where it grows

Katherine box grows on low stony ridges. There are scattered populations through the Northern Territory between Katherine and Gove with disjunct populations near Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia and near Croydon in Queensland.

Other Eucalyptus plants

Eucalyptus abdita · Badgingarra Box · Wattle Leaved Peppermint · Powder Bark Wandoo · Woolbernup Mallee · White-mahogany · Lakefield Coolibah · Wellstead Mallee · Eucalyptus aenea · Welcome Hill Gum · Blue-leaf stringybark · Black Gum

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eucalyptus distans by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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