Eucalyptus approximans

Eucalyptus approximans is a slender mallee that sometimes grows to a height of and has smooth white or grey bark. Young plants and coppice regrowth have shiny green, linear to narrow lance-shaped leaves long and wide. They are a different shade of green on either side. Adult leaves are linear to lance-shaped or curved, long and wide on a petiole long. They are the same glossy green on both sides. The flower buds are usually arranged in groups of seven, the groups on a peduncle long and the individual flowers a pedicel long. The mature buds are club-shaped, long and wide with a rounded to flattened operculum. Flowering occurs between March and June and the flowers are white. The fruit is a cylindrical to cup-shaped capsule long and wide on a pedicel up to long. ==Taxonomy and naming==

Eucalyptus approximans was first formally described in 1919 by Joseph Maiden from a specimen collected on Barren Mountain by Henry Deane. The description was published in Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. Maiden did not give a reason for using the specific epithet (approximans) but noted that the species is "close" to Eucalyptus stricta. ==Distribution and habitat==

Barren Mountain mallee is only known from Barren Mountain near Ebor where it grows in mallee shrubland in thin, nutrient-poor soils. ==Conservation==

This eucalypt is listed as "vulnerable" under the New South Wales Government Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. The main threats to the species are inappropriate fire regimes and clearing for agriculture. ==References==