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''Eucalyptus gongylocarpa'', commonly known as baarla, marble gum or desert gum, is a species of tree endemic to central Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped to elliptical leaves arranged more or less in opposite pairs, flower buds in groups of seven, whitish flowers and more or less spherical fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus gongylocarpa'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of and has smooth, white bark with red-brown flakes of bark that are loosely attached. Young plants and coppice regrowth haveglaucous
''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 ...
leaves that are sessile and arranged in opposite pairs, egg-shaped to heart-shaped or almost round, long and wide. Adult leaves are also arranged more or less in opposite pairs, glaucous, the same dull greyish to bluish on both sides, lance-shaped to elliptical, long and wide 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, usually 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 on pedicels
In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''.
Description
Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...
long. Mature buds are club-shaped, long and wide with a rounded operculum. Flowering occurs from January to February and the flowers are whitish. The fruit is a woody, more or less spherical capsule, long and wide.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus gongylocarpa'' was first formally described in 1936 by William Blakely in ''Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia
The Royal Society of South Australia (RSSA) is a learned society whose interest is in science, particularly, but not only, of South Australia. The major aim of the society is the promotion and diffusion of scientific knowledge, particularly in rel ...
'' from a specimen collected by Richard Helms in 1891. 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 ...
''gongylocarpa'' is "from the Greek ''gongylos'' meaning 'round' and ''carpos'' meaning 'fruit', referring to its distinctively spherical fruits".
Distribution and habitat
Baarla is found on sand plains, sand dunes and rises in arid areas of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory where it is often the dominant tree in woodland and mallee. In Western Australia it occurs to the east of Sandstone and in South Australia it is common in the Great Victoria Desert. It occurs south fromLake Amadeus
Lake Amadeus (together with Lake Neale, Pitjantjatjara: ''Pantu'' ("salt lakes")) is a large salt lake in the southwest corner of Northern Territory of Australia, about north of Uluru. The smaller Lake Neale is adjacent to the northwest. It ...
in the Northern Territory but is absent from the ranges and sandy plains in the north-west of South Australia.
See also
* List of ''Eucalyptus'' speciesReferences
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396671 Eucalypts of Western Australia Trees of Australia gongylocarpa Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1936 Flora of South Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Taxa named by William Blakely