''Corymbia clavigera'', commonly known as apple gum or cabbage gum,
is a species of tree that is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to a small area in the north-west
Kimberley
Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to:
Places and historical events
Australia
* Kimberley (Western Australia)
** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley
* Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania
* Kimberley, Tasmania a small town
* County of Kimberley, a ...
region of Western Australia. It has smooth, pale grey and white bark, lance-shaped or elliptical adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three or seven, white flowers and urn-shaped to barrel-shaped fruit.
Description
''Corymbia clavigera'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a
lignotuber. It has smooth white to pale grey over nearly all of the trunk, sometimes with a partially thin, rough and irregularly flaky-tessellated at the base of the trunk. The adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same shade of dull green on both sides, lance-shaped or elliptical, long and wide with a pointed apex and the base tapering to 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 branched
peduncle up to long, each branch of the peduncle with three or seven 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 to pear-shaped, about long and wide with a rounded
operculum. Flowering occurs from September to October and the flower are white. The fruit is an urn-shaped or barrel-shaped
capsule long and wide on a pedicel long with a descending disc and three valves enclosed in the fruit.
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described in 1843 by the botanist Johannes Conrad Schauer as ''Eucalyptus clavigera'' from an unpublished description by Allan Cunningham. Schauer's description was published in Wilhelm Gerhard Walpers book ''Repertorium Botanices Systematicae''.Careening Bay
Coronation Island, also known as Garlinju, is located off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia. It encompasses an area of . It is located off Port Nelson in the Bonaparte Archipelago, as a part of the group of islands known as the Coronati ...
and Port Nelson during the voyage of and it was collected there again in 1984 by Kevin Kenneally in an area he described as "on basalt slope behind the beach". It was reclassified as ''Corymbia watsoniana'' in 1995 by Kenneth Hill and Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson
Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson FAA, (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian taxonomic botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, for the whole of his professional career, as a botanist (1948 ...
in the journal '' Telopea''.
Distribution and habitat
''Corymbia clavigera'' is only known with certainty from the type location in coastal areas of the Kimberley region of Western Australia.[ It is also likely to be growing on nearby off-shore islands and in areas of the Carson River volcanics between Port Warrender and the Mitchell Plateau.]
Conservation status
This eucalypt 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 ...
.
See also
* List of ''Corymbia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15397005
clavigera
Myrtales of Australia
Flora of Western Australia
Plants described in 1843