''Eucalyptus decipiens'', commonly known as redheart
or redheart moit
is a species of
mallee or small tree 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
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 varying amounts of rough, imperfectly shed ribbons of brownish bark and smooth whitish to grey bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between eleven and twenty one, and conical to flattened hemispherical fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus decipiens'' is a mallee or small tree that typically grows to high and wide 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 varying amounts of rough, flaky, greyish brown ribbony bark and smooth grey to pinkish bark. 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 broadly elliptic to almost round, dull bluish green leaves long and wide. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, thick, dull, grey-green and lance-shaped with a hook-like tip. They are long and wide on a flattened
petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of between eleven and twenty one on a
peduncle long, the individual buds
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 ...
or 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
...
up to long. Mature buds are oval to spindle-shaped, long and wide with a conical to beaked
operculum. Flowering occurs between August and January and the flowers are creamy white. The fruit is a woody conical to flattened hemispherical
capsule long and wide.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus decipiens'' was first formally described in 1837 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 ...
Stephan Endlicher from a specimen collected near
King Georges Sound by
Charles von Hügel
Charles von Hügel (born Carl Alexander Anselm Baron von Hügel; 25 April 1795 – 2 June 1870), sometimes spelt in English Huegel, was an Austrian nobleman, army officer, diplomat, botanist, and explorer, now primarily remembered for his t ...
. The description was published in the book ''
''.
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 ...
(''decipiens'') is derived from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word ''decipio'' meaning "to beguile" or "to cheat"
but the reason Endlicher gave this name is not clear, but may refer to its similarity to another species.
Subspecies, including ''E. decipiens'' subsp. ''chalara''
Brooker & Hopper have been described but the names have not been accepted by the
Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...
.
Distribution and habitat
Redheart is found on sandplains, hills and along the edges of swamps in the
Wheatbelt,
South West
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
and
Great Southern regions of Western Australia growing in clay, loam or sandy soils over
laterite
Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...
.
[
]
See also
* List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396394
Eucalypts of Western Australia
decipiens
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1837
Taxa named by Stephan Endlicher