''Eucalyptus gregsoniana'', commonly known as the Wolgan snow gum or mallee snow gum, is a species of mallee 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 else ...

to New South Wales. It has white to pale grey bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between seven and eleven, white flowers and cup-shaped, hemispherical or conical fruit. Eucalyptus gregsoniana buds

Description

''Eucalyptus gregsoniana'' is a mallee that typically grows to a height of 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 smooth light grey to white bark with patches of other colours. 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 repeate ...

regrowth have lance-shaped or curved leaves that are long and wide. Adult leaves are also lance-shaped or curved, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven, nine or eleven on an unbranched peduncle 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 ...

up to long. Mature buds are club-shaped, long and wide and green, yellow or red with a rounded to conical operculum. Flowering occurs between November and December and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped, hemispherical or conical capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus gregsoniana'' was first formally described in 1973 by

Lawrie Johnson Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, FAA, (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic botany, botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Garden ...

and

Donald 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 ...

in ''Contributions from the New South Wales Herbarium''. The specific epithet ''gregsoniana'' honours Jesse Gregson and his son, Edward Gregson for their observations of eucalypts, especially in the Blue Mountains.

Distribution and habitat

Wolgan snow gum grows in mallee and heath vegetation on the mountains and tablelands of the Blue Mountains and Budawang Mountains as well as on the

Southern Tablelands The Southern Tablelands is a geographic area of New South Wales, Australia, located south-west of Sydney and west of the Great Dividing Range. The area is characterised by high, flat country which has generally been extensively cleared and ...

between Newnes and Wadbilliga. Image:Eucalyptus gregsoniana.jpg, Young specimen in

Maranoa Gardens Maranoa Gardens began in the early 1890s, when Mr John Middleton Watson purchased 1.4 hectares in Balwyn, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, for a private garden. He planted many Australian and New Zealand native trees and shrubs and the area ...

Image:Eucalyptus gregsoniana leaves.jpg, Leaf detail in

Blue Mountains Botanic Garden The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, originally known as the Mount Tomah Botanical Garden, is a public botanic garden located approximately west of the Sydney central business district at in the Blue Mountains, in New South Wales, Australia. Th ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3017623 gregsoniana Myrtales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 1973 Taxa named by Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson