''Eucalyptus ebbanoensis'', commonly known as the sandplain mallee, is a species of mallee that is endemic to Western Australia. It has smooth greyish bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three, whitish flowers and cup-shaped to hemispherical fruit. Eucalyptus ebbanoensis buds

Description

''Eucalyptus ebbanoensis'' is a mallee that typically grows to a height of , occasionally a tree up to , and forms a lignotuber. Young plants and coppice regrowth have hairy stems and leaves that are

petiolate Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, a ...

, long and wide. Adult leaves are lance-shaped to curved, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of three 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 ...

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 pear-shaped, long and wide with a conical or rounded operculum. Flowering mainly occurs from September to December and the flowers are creamy white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped to hemispherical or bell-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves near the level of the rim.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus ebbanoensis'' was first formally described in 1921 by Joseph Maiden from a specimen collected by Alexander Morrison at Ebano Springs near Mingenew in 1904. The description was published in Maiden's book ''A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus''. 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 ...

(''ebbanoensis'') is a reference to the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

location, although a misspelling of "Ebano Springs". The ending ''-ensis'' is a Latin

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

"denoting place, locality rcountry". Three subspecies have been described and their names accepted by the Australian Plant Census: *''Eucalyptus ebbanoensis'' Maiden subsp. ''ebbanoensis'' has dull leaves lacking glaucescence; *''Eucalyptus ebbanoensis'' subsp. ''glauciramula''

L.A.S.Johnson Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson FAA, (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian taxonomic botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, for the whole of his professional career, as a botanist (194 ...

& K.D.Hill has glaucous leaves; *''Eucalyptus ebbanoensis'' subsp. ''photina'' Brooker &

Hopper Hopper or hoppers may refer to: Places *Hopper, Illinois * Hopper, West Virginia * Hopper, a mountain and valley in the Hunza–Nagar District of Pakistan * Hopper (crater), a crater on Mercury People with the name * Hopper (surname) * Grace H ...

has glossy leaves.

Distribution and habitat

Sandplain mallee has been found in various places among breakaways, on sand plains and granite hills, growing in sandy soils and those derived from

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 ...

. The most widespread subspecies is ''ebbanoensis'' which is found through parts of the northern Wheatbelt and Goldfields-Esperance regions to the western edge of the Great Victoria Desert. Subspecies ''glauciramula'' is found to the east of this area and subspecies ''photina'' has a restricted distribution in the Moresby Range north and east of Geraldton. These are areas of predominantly winter rainfall with an annual average of .Chippendale, G.M. (1973). Eucalypts of the Western Australian goldfields (and the adjacent wheatbelt). AGPS: Canberra.

Conservation status

''Eucalyptus ebbanoensis'' and the subspecies ''ebbanoensis'' and ''glauciramula'' 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 e ...

but subspecies ''photina'' is classified as " Priority Four", meaning that it is rare or near threatened.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5405589 Eucalypts of Western Australia Myrtales of Australia ebbanoensis Mallees (habit) Plants described in 1921 Taxa named by Joseph Maiden