''Eucalyptus alatissima'' is a mallee 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 central parts of the

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross th ...

. It has rough bark on the lower part of its stems, smooth tan to cream-coloured bark on its upper parts, egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves and buds in groups of three. The buds have a powdery covering and are prominently winged.

Description

''Eucalyptus alatissima'' is a multi-stemmed mallee, or occasionally a single-stemmed tree and typically grows to a height of . It has smooth, tan to cream bark on the upper parts and rough grey fibrous to ribbon-like bark toward the base. Leaves on young plants are egg-shaped to broadly lance-shaped, dull and bluish, usually with a powdery surface. The adult leaves are dull green to grey-green, egg-shaped to lance-shaped, long and wide. The flowers are arranged in

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

s of three 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. Mature flower buds are reddish, more or less spherical to oval, long and wide. Both the

flower cup The Flower Cup (Japanese フラワーカップ) is a Grade 3 horse race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies run in March over a distance of 1800 metres at Nakayama Racecourse. The race was first run in 1987 and has been run at Grade 3 level ...

and operculum have a powdery covering and have prominent longitudinal wings, the operculum longer than the flower cup. It blooms between July and October producing

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s with pink to red or rarely yellow flowers. The fruit are woody capsules long and wide with prominent longitudinally winged ridges. The fruits contain pyramidally shaped dark grey seeds that are long.

Taxonomy

This eucalypt was first formally described in 1993 as '' Eucalyptus kingsmillii'' subsp. ''alatissima'' by the

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Ian Brooker Murray Ian Hill Brooker AM (2 June 1934 – 25 June 2016), better known as Ian Brooker, was an Australian botanist. He was widely recognised as the leading authority on the genus ''Eucalyptus''. Ian Brooker was born in Adelaide, South Australi ...

and

Stephen Hopper Stephen Donald Hopper AC FLS FTSE (born 18 June 1951) is a Western Australian botanist. He graduated in Biology, specialising in conservation biology and vascular plants. Hopper has written eight books, and has over 200 publications to his n ...

in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

''. In 2013 it was raised to species status by

Dean Nicolle 270px, Dean Nicolle and '' Eucalyptus deanei'' Dean Nicolle (born 1974), is an Australian botanist, arborist and ecologist. He is widely recognised as the leading authority on the genus ''Eucalyptus''. Nicolle was born in Adelaide, South Austr ...

in his book ''Native eucalypts of South Australia''. The name of the species is commonly misapplied to ''Eucalyptus kingsmillii'' and ''

Eucalyptus pachyphylla ''Eucalyptus pachyphylla'', commonly known as thick-leaved mallee or the red-budded mallee, is a species of mallee that is native to inland Australia. It has smooth bark, egg-shaped to lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three ...

''. 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 ...

(''alatissima'') is the

superlative Comparison is a feature in the morphology or syntax of some languages whereby adjectives and adverbs are inflected to indicate the relative degree of the property they define exhibited by the word or phrase they modify or describe. In languages t ...

form of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''alatus'' meaning winged, hence "most winged" or "very much so", referring to the prominently winged buds and fruit.

Distribution and habitat

This mallee grows in gravelly red sands and loam in mallee vegetation or mulga scrub near the South Australia-Western Australia border. It is found in central parts of the Great Victoria Desert between Vokes Hill in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and Neale Junction east of Laverton 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 ...

. Its range includes parts of the

Goldfields Goldfield or Goldfields may refer to: Places * Goldfield, Arizona, the former name of Youngberg, Arizona, a populated place in the United States * Goldfield, Colorado, a community in the United States * Goldfield, Iowa, a city in the United State ...

region.

Conservation

''Eucalyptus alatissima'' is classified as "not threatened" in Western Australia 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 ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q42266510 Eucalypts of Western Australia alatissima Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1993 Taxa named by Ian Brooker Taxa named by Stephen Hopper

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution and habitat

Conservation

See also

References