Eucalyptus ancophila is a tree endemic to a small area of New South Wales in eastern Australia. It has grey "ironbark", glossy green, lance-shaped leaves, flower buds arranged in a branching inflorescence with seven oval to diamond-shaped buds in each umbel, white flowers and conical or barrel-shaped fruit.
Eucalyptus ancophila is a tree with rough, grey "ironbark" that grows to a height of 35sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1, sometimes with smooth pale grey bark on its thinner branches. Young plants and coppice regrowth have four-sided stems and egg-shaped, later lance-shaped leaves, that are a paler shade of green on the lower side. The blade of the adult leaves are lance-shaped NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and only slightly paler on the lower side. The flower buds are arranged in a branching inflorescence, each branch with an umbel of seven buds. The groups have a peduncle NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and the individual flowers a pedicel NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The buds are oval to diamond-shaped, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide with a beaked to conical operculum that is shorter and narrower than the flower cup. Flowering has been recorded in November and the flowers are white. The fruit is a cone-shaped or barrel-shaped capsule NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide on a pedicel NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long.[1] [2] [3]
Eucalyptus ancophila was first formally described in 1990 by Lawrie Johnson and Ken Hill and the description was published in Telopea from a specimen collected near Kempsey.[4] The specific epithet (ancophila) is from the Ancient Greek words ankos meaning "mountain glen" or "valley"[5] and philos, meaning "dear one" or "friend" referring to this species' habitat.
This eucalypt usually grows along creeks or in the bottom of valleys in the Kempsey and Bellingen districts.