''Eucalyptus cupularis'', commonly known as the Halls Creek white gum,
or in the local indigenous
Djaru
The Djaru people are an Aboriginal Australian people of the southern Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Language
Djaru is a member of the Ngumbin language family, and is related to Walmajarri.
Country
The Djaru people ranged along Margar ...
peoples' language as wawulinggi,
is a species of small tree that is
endemic to an area in northwestern Australia. It has smooth, powdery white bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped to conical fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus cupularis'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of , sometimes as high as , and forms a
lignotuber. It has powdery, white smooth bark that is pale pink when young. Young plants and
coppice regrowth have stems that are square in cross-section and egg-shaped leaves that are long and wide. Adult leaves are the same dull green on both sides, lance-shaped or curved, long and wide on a
petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven on an unbranched
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 ...
long, the individual buds usually
sessile. Mature buds are oval,
glaucous
''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...
, long and wide with a rounded to conical
operculum. Flowering occurs between October and November and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped to conical
capsule long and wide with the valves protruding above the rim.
''Eucalyptus cupularis'' is similar in appearance to and closely related to the Kalumburu gum (''
E. herbertiana'') and the mountain white gum (''
E. mooreana'').
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus cupularis'' was first formally described 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 ...
Charles Austin Gardner
Charles Austin Gardner (6 January 1896 – 24 February 1970) was an English-born Western Australian botanist.
Biography
Born in Lancaster, in England, on 6 January 1896, Gardner emigrated to Western Australia with his family in 1909, whe ...
in 1964 from a specimen collected on stony hills to the west of
Halls Creek and the description was published in the ''
Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia
The Royal Society of Western Australia (RSWA) promotes science in Western Australia.
The RSWA was founded in 1914. It publishes the ''Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia'', and has awarded the Medal of the Royal Society of Western ...
''.
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 ...
(''cupularis'') is the diminutive form of the
Latin word ''cupa'' meaning "cup",
hence "little cup", referring to the shape of the fruit.
Distribution and habitat
The range of Halls Creek white gum extends from the
Kimberley
Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to:
Places and historical events
Australia
* Kimberley (Western Australia)
** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley
* Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania
* Kimberley, Tasmania a small town
* County of Kimberley, a ...
region of
Western Australia and into the
Northern Territory where it grows in open woodland on stony hills and along watercourses in skeletal soils over
sandstone or
granite.
See also
* List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396759
Eucalypts of Western Australia
Flora of the Northern Territory
Trees of Australia
cupularis
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1964
Taxa named by Charles Gardner