''Eucalyptus amygdalina'', commonly known as black peppermint,
is a species of flowering plant 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 Tasmania. It is a small to medium-sized tree with rough bark on park of the trunk, smooth grey to brown bark above, lance-shaped to linear adult leaves, oval to club-shaped flower buds, white flowers and cup-shaped to hemispherical fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus amygdalina'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a
lignotuber
A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...
. It has rough, finely fibrous bark on most or all of the trunk and base of the larger branches, smooth greyish bark above. The leaves on young plants and on
coppice
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeated ...
regrowth are arranged in opposite pairs, lance-shaped or curved, long, wide and
sessile
Sessility, or sessile, may refer to:
* Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about
* Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant
* Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...
. Adult leaves are arranged alternately along the stems, the same shade of bluish green on both sides, lance-shaped to linear, long and wide on a
petiole long. The flowers are borne in groups of eleven to fifteen or more in leaf axils on a
peduncle long, the individual flowers on a
pedicel
Pedicle or pedicel may refer to:
Human anatomy
*Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures
...
long. The buds are oval to club-shaped, long, wide and the
stamen
The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10
Morphology and terminology
A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...
s are white. Flowering mainly occurs from November to January and the fruit are cup-shaped to hemispherical, long and wide.
Taxonomy
''Eucalyptus amygdalina'' was first formally described in 1806 by
Jacques Labillardière
Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (28 October 1755 – 8 January 1834) was a French biologist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the Jean-François de Galaup, comte ...
in his book ''
Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen
''Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen'' is a two-volume work describing the flora of Australia. Facsimiles of the originals can be found in the onlinBiodiversity Heritage Library (Vol.1)anVol 2)
The author was the French botanist Jacques Labillar ...
''.
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 ...
(''amygdalina'') means "almond".
Distribution
Black peppermint is endemic to Tasmania where it is widespread in the drier, north-eastern side of the island, from coastal areas extending well inland to the edges of plateaux
[ where it is part of dry eucalypt forest communities.]
See also
* List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5405517
Flora of Tasmania
Endemic flora of Tasmania
Trees of Australia
amygdalina
Myrtales of Australia