''Eucalyptus jucunda'', commonly known as Yuna mallee, 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. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flowering buds in groups of seven or nine, white or cream-coloured flowers and barrel-shaped or shortened spherical fruit with an unusually narrow opening. Eucalyptus jucunda buds

Description

''Eucalyptus jucunda'' is a mallee that typically grows to a height of , sometimes a tree to , 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 greyish to creamy brown bark, sometimes with crumbly, fibrous, flaky or ribbony bark at the base. 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

glaucous ''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 ...

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 ...

leaves arranged in opposite pairs. The juvenile leaves are egg-shaped to heart-shaped, long and wide. Adult leaves are lance-shaped, the same dull shade of green on both sides, long and wide on a petiole wide. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven or nine, on a sometimes branched 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 ...

long. Mature buds are cylindrical to spindle-shaped, long and wide with a conical to rounded operculum. Flowering occurs from January to April and the flowers are white, cream-coloured or yellow. The fruit is a woody, barrel-shaped to shortened spherical capsule long and wide with an unusually small opening, the valves near rim level or below it.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus jucunda'' was first formally described in 1964 by Charles Gardner from a specimen he collected near the

Greenough River The Greenough River is a river in the Mid West region of Western Australia. Course Greenough River has its headwaters near Woojalong Hills on the Yilgarn Plateau. It runs in a south-westerly direction through deep valleys for approximately ...

in 1959. The description was published in ''

Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia The Royal Society of Western Australia (RSWA) promotes science in Western Australia. The RSWA was founded in 1914. It publishes the ''Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia'', and has awarded the Medal of the Royal Society of Western ...

''. 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 ...

(''jucunda'') is a Latin word meaning 'pleasant'.

Distribution and habitat

Yuna mallee usually grows in sandy soil on sandplains between Mingenew and Kalbarri in the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low reli ...

, Carnarvon,

Geraldton Sandplains Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

and Yalgoo biogeographic regions.

Conservation status

This eucalypt 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 ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15398697 Eucalypts of Western Australia jucunda Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1964 Taxa named by Charles Gardner

Description

Taxonomy and naming

Distribution and habitat

Conservation status

See also

References