Narrow-leaved peppermint is a tall eucalyptus tree from south-eastern Australia, reaching 10 to 50 m, grown mainly for its aromatic leaves and oil rather than as a garden plant. It thrives in cool, moist forest conditions.
Family
Myrtaceae (Myrtle family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly while young; mature trees tolerate natural rainfall in its native cool, moist habitat.
Soil
Well-drained, moist soil, tolerant of a range of types.
Temperature
Cool to temperate climates; frost tolerant in its native range, but avoid prolonged heat and drought.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
New South Wales to Tasmania
Climate
subtropical
About
Eucalyptus radiata, commonly known as the narrow-leaved peppermint or Forth River peppermint, is a species of tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has rough, fibrous to flaky bark on the trunk and larger branches, smooth grey bark on the thinner branches, lance-shaped to curved or almost linear leaves, flower buds in groups of eleven to twenty or more, white flowers and cup-shaped, hemispherical or shortened spherical fruit.
Where it grows
Narrow-leaved peppermint grows in forest and woodland, usually in cooler or wetter habitats. It occurs in New South Wales south from near the Queensland border, in the Australian Capital Territory, to the Wombat State Forest, Great Otway National Park and ranges of South Gippsland in Victoria. It also occurs in Tasmania where it is restricted to the catchment of the Forth River. Subspecies robertsonii is restricted to montane and subalpine forests of north-eastern Victoria.
Uses
Eucalyptus radiata has six known chemotypes of essential oil. The leaves are distilled for cineole and phellandrene based eucalyptus oils. E.radiata was the first eucalyptus species to be commercially utilized for oil by Melbourne pharmacist, Joseph Bosisto, in 1854 as "Eucalyptus amygdalina".
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eucalyptus radiata 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.