Angophora subvelutina, known as the Broad-leaved Apple, is a common woodland and forest tree of eastern 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...

. Usually seen on river flats between 12 and 20 metres tall, though exceptional specimens exceed 35 metres tall. One of the habitats west of Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 is on poorly drained alluvial flats near the Hawkesbury/Nepean

Hawkesbury River

The Hawkesbury River, also known as Deerubbun, is one of the major rivers of the coastal region of New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its tributaries virtually encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney.-Geography:-Course:...

 river system. The explorer Allan Cunningham

Allan Cunningham (botanist)

Allan Cunningham was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in New South Wales to collect plants.- Early life :...

 remarked that presence of these trees indicated fertile areas for agriculture. Adult leaves are similar in shape to eucalyptus

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...

 leaves; opposite on the stem, oblong or ovate. 7 to 10 cm long and 3 to 5 cm wide.

The specific epithet subvelutina is from Latin, and it translates to "almost velvety". Similar in habit to Angophora floribunda

Angophora floribunda

Angophora floribunda is a common woodland and forest tree of Eastern Australia and is known by a variety of names including Rough-barked apple, Apple box, Rusty gum, and Boondah....

, however, it has dense more erect foliage, and the gumnuts are covered in felty reddish hairs.

Recently, genetic work has been published showing Angophora to be more closely related to Eucalyptus than Corymbia

Corymbia

Corymbia is a genus of about 113 species of tree that were classified as Eucalyptus species until the mid-1990s. It includes the bloodwoods, ghost gums and spotted gums. The bloodwoods had been recognised as a distinct group within the large and diverse Eucalyptus genus since 1867...

, and the name Eucalyptus subvelutina has been proposed for this species if it were to be placed in the eucalypt

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...

genus.

.