''Eucalyptus eremophila'', commonly known as the sand mallet or tall sand mallee, is a species of

mallet A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and proport ...

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 semi-arid regions of Western Australia. It has smooth pale brown and greyish bark, narrow lance-shaped to elliptical adult leaves, flower buds arranged in groups of between seven and eleven with an elongated operculum, and cup-shaped to barrel-shaped fruit. Eucalyptus eremophila flower buds 1449

Description

''Eucalyptus eremophila'' is a mallet, sometimes a shrub or a tree, that typically grows to a height of and a width of but does not form 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 smooth, polished pale brown to greyish bark that is shed in late summer. 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 glossy green, lance-shaped to oblong leaves long, wide and arranged alternately. Adult leaves are narrow lance-shaped to elliptical, long, long on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged 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 in groups of seven, nine or eleven on a flattened, unbranched 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 long, wide, curved spindle-shaped with an elongated, horn-shaped operculum. Flowering occurs from August to December and the flowers are lemon yellow, sometimes pale pink. The fruit is a woody, cup-shaped to barrel-shaped capsule, long, wide on a downturned pedicel, with the valve tips at rim level.

Taxonomy and naming

The sand mallet was first formally described in 1904 by

Ludwig Diels Dr. Friedrich Ludwig Emil Diels (24 September 1874 – 30 November 1945) was a German botanist. Diels was born in Hamburg, the son of the classical scholar Hermann Alexander Diels. From 1900 to 1902 he traveled together with Ernst Georg Prit ...

from material collected near Boorabbin in the Coolgardie district by

Ernst Georg Pritzel Ernst Georg Pritzel (15 May 1875 – 6 April 1946) was a German botanist. He is known for his research in the fields of phytogeography and taxonomy. He contributed works on Lycopodiaceae, Psilotaceae and Pittosporaceae to Engler & Prantl’s "Die ...

. Diels gave it the name ''Eucalyptus occidentalis'' var. ''eremophila'' and published the description in the journal ''Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie''. In the same journal,

Adolf Engler Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler (25 March 1844 – 10 October 1930) was a German botanist. He is notable for his work on alpha taxonomy, plant taxonomy and phytogeography, such as ''Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'' (''The Natural Plant Families'' ...

published the first formal description of '' E. occidentalis''. In 1920,

Joseph Maiden Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus ''Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing ...

raised the variety to species status as ''E. eremophila''. Two subspecies of ''E. eremophila'' are 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 ...

: * ''Eucalyptus eremophila'' (Diels) Maiden subsp. ''eremophila''; * ''Eucalyptus eremophila'' subsp. ''pterocarpa'' ( Blakely & H.Steedman)

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 ...

Blaxell Donald Frederick Blaxell (born 1 February 1934, Sydney, New South Wales), is an Australian botanist, botanical collector and taxonomist. Blaxell worked at the University of New South Wales for 11 years and joined the New south Wales Herbarium in ...

. 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 ...

(''eremophila'') is derived from the Greek ''eremi-'' meaning "desert" and ''philos'' 'lover'. The eucalypt is associated with the western mallee subgroup which is characterised by several eucalypts, including '' E. oleosa'', '' E. moderata'', '' E. incrassata'', '' E. foecunda'', '' E. redunca'' and '' E. uncinata''. The understorey is predominantly shrubby with species of ''

Melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They range in size ...

'' and ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

'' along with the occasional '' Triodia''.

Distribution and habitat

''Eucalyptus eremophila'' is found on undulating plains, hills and sand dunes in the Wheatbelt and Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia where it grows in skeletal sandy soils over

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

. It is found as far north west as

Quairading Quairading is a Western Australian town located in the Wheatbelt region. It is the seat of government for the Shire of Quairading. History The town was named for Quairading Spring, derived from a local Aboriginal word recorded in 1872 by s ...

in the central Wheatbelt to the western edge of the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

in the south east.

Conservation status

Sand mallet is 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 ...

Use in horticulture

This plant is sold commercially in the form of seed or tube stock as an ornamental plant but is also used as an

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

control, windbreak or shade plant for wide verges, nature strips or parks and reserves. It prefers a full sun position and is regarded as quite hardy being

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

tolerant and able to withstand a moderate

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

. It grows in neutral to acid soils and can be grown in coastal areas. It is also a good habitat for birds and attracts them with its nectar. The seeds germinate readily.

Description

Taxonomy and naming

Distribution and habitat

Conservation status

Use in horticulture

See also

References

Further reading