''Eucalyptus brookeriana'', commonly known as Brooker's gum,
is a tree species that is endemic to south-eastern
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. It has rough, fibrous bark on the lower part of its trunk, smooth bark higher up, lance-shaped, egg-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds usually arranged in groups of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped, conical or bell-shaped fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus brookeriana'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a
lignotuber. It has rough, fibrous, brown or grey bark at the base of the trunk and for up to , smooth white, cream-coloured, greenish or coppery bark higher up, and often hanging in ribbons when shed. Young plants and
coppice regrowth have egg-shaped, elliptic, oblong or more or less round leaves long, wide, different shades of green on either side, and always have a
petiole. Adult leaves are glossy green, lance-shaped to egg-shaped or curved, long, wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven, sometimes nine, on a
peduncle long, the individual buds 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 to diamond-shaped, long and wide with a conical to beaked
operculum long. Flowering occurs in summer and autumn and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped, conical or bell-shaped
capsule, long and wide with the valves at rim level or slightly above.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus brookeriana'' was first formally described in 1979 by
Alan Maurice Gray from a specimen collected near
Little Swanport
Little Swanport is a rural locality and an estuary in the local government area of Glamorgan–Spring Bay in the South-east region of Tasmania. It is especially significant for the Little Swanport language. The locality is about north of the ...
in
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
and the description was published in the journal ''Australian Forest Research''.
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 ...
(''brookeriana'') honours
M.I.H. Brooker "who specialized in the taxonomy of the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
''
Eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...
''.
Distribution and habitat
Brooker's gum has a
disjunct distribution
In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...
in
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
and
Victoria. In Victoria it grows on the northern foothills of the
Otway Ranges
The Great Otway National Park is a national park located in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated approximately southwest of Melbourne, in the Otway Ranges, a low coastal mountain range. It conta ...
and in the
Daylesford-
Trentham area. It is widely distributed in Tasmania except in the south-west and occurs on
King Island King Island, Kings Island or King's Island may refer to:
Australia
* King Island (Queensland)
* King Island, at Wellington Point, Queensland
* King Island (Tasmania)
** King Island Council, the local government area that contains the Tasmanian is ...
where it is the most abundant
eucalypt. It grows on slopes and ridge tops but also near watercourses in wet forest and sometimes in or near rainforest.
Gallery
See also
*
List of Eucalyptus species
The following is an alphabetical list of ''Eucalyptus'' species accepted by the Australian Plant Census as at February 2019. Several species only occurring outside Australia, including '' E. orophila'', '' E. urophylla'' and '' E. wetarensis'' are ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5405548
Flora of Tasmania
Flora of Victoria (state)
Trees of Australia
brookeriana
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1979