''Eucalyptus conglobata'', also known as the cong mallee or Port Lincoln mallee,
is a species of eucalypt that is native to the south coast of
Western Australia and
South Australia. It is a
mallee with smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and clustered hemispherical fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus conglomerata'' is a mallee that typically grows to a height of or rarely a tree to . It has smooth grey to brown-tan over creamy grey bark. Its young plants and
coppice regrowth have stems that are more or less square in cross-section, and leaves that are dull bluish green, egg-shaped to broadly lance-shaped, long and wide. Adult leaves are usually dull bluish green, lance-shaped, long and wide on a
petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven 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
peduncle Peduncle may refer to:
*Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed
*Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body
**Peduncle (art ...
up to long, the individual buds
sessile. Mature buds are crowded together, oval, green to yellow, long and wide. Flowering occurs from November to May and the flowers are white. The fruit are woody hemispherical
capsules crowded together and flattened on one side.
Taxonomy and naming
Cong mallee was first formally described in 1867 by
George Bentham from an unpublished description by
Robert Brown who gave it the name ''Eucalyptus dumosa'' var. ''conglobata''.
The description was published in ''
Flora Australiensis''.
In 1922,
Joseph Maiden raised the variety to species status as ''Eucalyptus conglobata''.
In 1972
Ian Brooker described two subspecies, subsp. ''conglobata'' as a
synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
of ''Eucalyptus dumosa'' var. ''conglobata'', and subsp. ''fraseri''.
''Eucalyptus conglobata''
(R.Br. ex Benth.) Maiden subsp. ''conglobata'' is accepted by the
Australian Plant Census.
In 2004, Brooker and
Andrew Slee described ''Eucalyptus conglobata'' subsp. ''perata'', a name that has been accepted by the Australian Plant Census.
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 ...
(''conglobata'') possibly refers to the clusters of flower buds and fruit.
The name ''perata'' is from the
Latin ''peratus'' meaning "western", referring to the distribution of this subspecies compared to subspecies ''conglobata''.
Subspecies ''conglobata'' has fruit that are in diameter whereas subspecies ''perata'' has narrower leaves, smaller buds and fruit in diameter.
Distribution and habitat
Cong mallee grows in tall shrubland. Subspecies ''conglobata'' is the only subspecies occurring in South Australia where it occurs near
Port Lincoln, but is also common between
Israelite Bay
Israelite Bay is a bay and locality on the south coast of Western Australia.
Situated in the Shire of Esperance local government area, it lies east of Esperance and the Cape Arid National Park, within the Nuytsland Nature Reserve and the Gr ...
,
Esperance and
Salmon Gums
Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus ''Oncorhynch ...
.
Subspecies ''perata'' is common west of Esperance, including in the
Stirling Ranges
The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranb ...
,
Fitzgerald River National Park and
Ravensthorpe. Where the ranges overlap, it is difficult to distinguish between the two subspecies.
Conservation status
Both subspecies of ''Eucalyptus conglobata'' are 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 en ...
.
See also
*
List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396802
conglobata
Endemic flora of Western Australia
Flora of South Australia
Mallees (habit)
Myrtales of Australia
Eucalypts of Western Australia
Plants described in 1867
Taxa named by George Bentham