''Eucalyptus preissiana'', commonly known as bell-fruited mallee, is a species of small tree or shrub that occurs in an area between Albany and Esperance in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It has a spreading habit, smooth bark, elliptical to egg-shaped or oblong leaves, flower buds in groups of three, yellow flowers and cup-shaped, conical or bell-shaped fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus preissiana'' is a mallee that typically grows to a height of with a sprawling habit, and forms a lignotuber. It has smooth, greyish and brown bark. Young plants and coppice regrowth have stems that are square in cross-section and elliptical to egg-shaped leaves that are the greyish green, long, wide and arranged in opposite pairs. Adult leaves are sometimes arranged alternately, the same shade of dull greyish green on both sides, elliptical to egg-shaped or oblong, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s on a flattened, unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

long. Mature buds are oval, long and wide with a conical to rounded operculum. Flowering occurs from September to November and the flowers are yellow. The fruit is a woody, cup-shaped, conical or bell-shaped capsule long and wide with lobes between the valves.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus preissiana'' was first formally described in 1844 by the Johannes Conrad Schauer and the description was published in Lehmann's book ''Plantae Preissianae''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

honours Ludwig Preiss who collected the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

specimen near Cape Riche in 1840. In 1995 Ian Brooker and

Andrew Slee Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

described two subspecies and the names have been accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

: * ''Eucalyptus preissiana'' subsp. ''lobata'' Brooker & Slee differs from subspecies ''preissiana'' in having large lobes between the valves of the fruit; * ''Eucalyptus preissiana'' Schauer subsp. ''preissiana'' has fruit that lack lobes or have small lobes below the rim of the fruit.

Distribution

Bell-fruited mallee is found in coastal and sub-coastal areas among

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and

laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

and grows in gravelly sandy-clay soils. It occurs in coastal and near-coastal areas from the

Stirling Range The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranb ...

to the Fitzgerald River National Park and almost to Esperance to the east. Subspecies ''lobata'' only occurs in coastal areas in a few places between Esperance and Hopetoun.

Conservation status

Subspecies ''preissiana'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...

, but subspecies ''lobata'' is classified as " Priority Four" by the Government of Western Australia

, meaning that is rare or near threatened.

Use in horticulture

Bell-fruited mallee can be cultivated in temperate areas of Australia but performs poorly in tropical environments. It is propagated from seeds and germinates easily. It prefers a position in full sun and in well-drained soils.

References