''Eucalyptus beardiana'', commonly known as Beard's mallee, 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 ...

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 smooth pinkish bark, narrow lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds usually in groups of nine, pale yellow flowers and down-turned, hemispherical fruit. Eucalyptus beardiana buds

Description

''Eucalyptus beardiana'' is a spreading mallee 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 smooth grey, cream-cloloured or pinkish bark from the trunk to the thinnest branches. Young plants and

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 have dull, narrow lance-shaped leaves long and wide and have a petiole. Adult leaves are lance-shaped to curved, mostly long and wide, narrowing at the base to a petiole long. The flowers are usually borne in groups of nine, rarely eleven, 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 an unbranched 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. Mature buds are oval, long and wide with a finely beaked operculum about long. Flowering mainly occurs from August to September and the flowers are pale yellow to creamy white. The fruit that follows is a woody, hemispherical capsule long and with a slightly flared rim.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus beardiana'' was first formally described in 1978 by

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

Donald Blaxell Donald Frederick Blaxell (born 1 February 1934, Sydney, New South Wales), is an Australian botanist, botanical collector and taxonomist. Blaxell worked at the University of New South Wales for 11 years and joined the New south Wales Herbarium in ...

who published the description 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 ...

'' from a specimen collected near

Shark Bay Shark Bay (Malgana: ''Gathaagudu'', "two waters") is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/shark-bay area is located approximately north of Perth, on the ...

. 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 ...

(''beardiana'') honours

John Stanley Beard John Stanley Beard (15 February 1916 – 17 February 2011) was a British-born forester and ecologist who resided in Australia. Beard studied at the University of Oxford where he completed his doctoral thesis on tropical forestry. While working ...

. The authors considered it appropriate that "his long association with the botany of Western Australia should be perpetuated by a species endemic to the state".

Distribution and habitat

Beard's mallee grows in tree heath, tall open shrubland in association with species including Yuna mallee, mallalie, ''

Eucalyptus gittinsii ''Eucalyptus gittinsii'', commonly known as northern sandplain mallee, is a species of Mallee (habit), mallee that is Endemism, endemic to Western Australia. It has smooth greyish bark, sometimes with rough flaky bark near the base, lance-shaped ...

'', sceptre banksia, Ashby's banksia, broom honey-myrtle as well as other species of ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

'', ''

Grevillea ''Grevillea'', commonly known as spider flowers, is a genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus ''Grevillea'' are shrubs, rarely trees, with the leaves arranged alternately along the b ...

'' and ''

Persoonia ''Persoonia'', commonly known as geebungs or snottygobbles, is a genus of about one hundred species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus ''Persoonia'' are shrubs or small trees usually with smooth bark, simple leav ...

''. It is found on sandplain between the Murchison River and

Conservation

''Eucalyptus beardiana'' is classified as "endangered" under the Australian Government ''

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cultu ...

'' and as " Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)" by the

Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia) The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) was a department of the Government of Western Australia that was responsible for implementing the state's conservation and environment legislation and regulations. It was formed on 1 July 2006 ...

. The main threat to the species is habitat disturbance due to firebreak and track maintenance and by grazing animals and weed invasion.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396859 Eucalypts of Western Australia Trees of Australia beardiana Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1978 Taxa named by Ian Brooker

Description

Taxonomy and naming

Distribution and habitat

Conservation

See also

References