''Eucalyptus lehmannii'', commonly known as bushy yate, is a
eucalypt
Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia:
''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', '' Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...
in the myrtle family
Myrtaceae 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 the south-west of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
.
It is a small tree with an oval, spreading form and dense foliage which sometimes reaches to the ground. It is widely cultivated in
Australia and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
because of its ornamental shape and decorative flowers, buds and fruit. There has been some confusion about its classification because of its ability to hybridise.
![Eucalyptus lehmannii (buds)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Eucalyptus_lehmannii_%28buds%29.JPG)
![Eucalyptus lehmannii (flower)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Eucalyptus_lehmannii_%28flower%29.JPG)
Description
''Eucalyptus lehmannii'' is a sometimes multi-trunked
mallee with smooth bark which is whitish grey to grey-brown and orange-brown and which sheds in strips. The stems of young plants are initially triangular in cross-section with leaves that are alternate, oblong to elliptical or lance-shaped, 5–8 cm long and 1–3 cm wide, glossy green on the upper surface and dull blue-green below. Older stems are smooth and round with alternate leaves. The adult leaves have a
petiole 0.1–1.5 cm long and a blade elliptical to oval-shaped, about 4.5–9.5 cm long and 0.7–2.8 cm wide and both surfaces glossy light to mid-green. The oil glands in the leaves common to all eucalypts, are obscure or scattered.
The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
s appear in the
axils of the leaves, have a flattened stalk 4–11 cm which curves downwards as the flowers open. There may be 11–19 or more buds in each inflorescence, with their bases joined. By the time the bud opens, it is about 3.3–6.5 cm long, including the cap (strictly the
operculum) and 0.5–1.0 cm wide at the base of the cap. The stamens are erect and greenish-yellow.
Taxonomy and naming
The species was originally in 1844 named by
Schauer in ''Plantae Preissianae'' as ''Symphyomyrtus lehmannii''. In 1867,
George Bentham
George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...
in
Flora Australiensis
''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume flora of Australia published be ...
placed it in the genus ''
Eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as e ...
'' as ''Eucalyptus lehmannii''
after
Johann Georg Christian Lehmann
Johann Georg Christian Lehmann (25 February 1792 – 12 February 1860) was a German botanist.
Born at Haselau, near Uetersen, Holstein, Lehmann studied medicine in Copenhagen and Göttingen, obtained a doctorate in medicine in 1813 and a do ...
who was Professor of Botany and Director of the Botanic Gardens in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
and editor of ''Plantae Preissianae''.
There is some confusion between the species ''E. lehmannii'' and ''
E. conferruminata'' - some authors place this tree in ''E. conferruminata''.
Others discriminate between these two species on characters such as operculum length - ''E. conferruminata'' is said to have a relatively short operculum.
''Eucalyptus lehmannii'' belongs in Eucalyptus subgenus ''Symphyomyrtus'', section ''Bisectae'', subsection ''Hadrotes'' because of its coarsely
bisected cotyledon
A cotyledon (; ; ; , gen. (), ) is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant, and is defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first to appear from a germinating seed." The num ...
s, erect
stamens and larger, thick-rimmed fruits. The subsection ''Hadrotes'' contains ten species of which eight do not have oil
glands
In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland).
Structure
De ...
in the branchlet
pith
Pith, or medulla, is a tissue in the stems of vascular plants. Pith is composed of soft, spongy parenchyma cells, which in some cases can store starch. In eudicotyledons, pith is located in the center of the stem. In monocotyledons, it ext ...
. Together these eight species form series ''Lehmannianae'', a group that has fruit with
exserted valves
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...
that have fused tips even after the seeds are lost, a feature also shared with the distantly related ''
Eucalyptus cornuta
''Eucalyptus cornuta'', commonly known as yate, is a tree species, sometimes a mallee and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has rough, fibrous bark on all or most of its trunk, smooth bark above, mostly lance-shaped adult le ...
''.
[
Of the eight species in series ''Lehmannianae'', four species (''Eucalyptus lehmannii'', '' E. conferruminata'', '' E. mcquoidii'' and '' E. arborella'') have the buds in each axillary cluster, fused basally.]
Distribution and habitat
Bushy yate is found in southern coastal and subcoastal areas from east of Albany towards Israelite Bay, including the Stirling Range. It occurs in the Esperance Plains
Esperance Plains, also known as Eyre Botanical District, is a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia on the south coast between the Avon Wheatbelt and Hampton bioregions, and bordered to the north by the Mallee region. It is a p ...
, Jarrah Forest
Jarrah forest is tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is ''Eucalyptus marginata'' (jarrah). The ecosystem occurs only in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia. It is most common in the biogeographic region named i ...
, Mallee and Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...
biogeographic regions of Western Australia growing in 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 under ...
or quartzite
Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...
, often with gravel on rocky hills and coastal dunes.
Ecology
''Eucalyptus lehmannii'', as well as some others of the genus including ''Eucalyptus cladocalyx
''Eucalyptus cladocalyx'', commonly known as sugar gum, is a species of eucalypt tree found in the Australian state of South Australia. It is found naturally in three distinct populations - in the Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula and on Kangar ...
'', ''Eucalyptus globulus
''Eucalyptus globulus'', commonly known as southern blue gum or blue gum, is a species of tall, evergreen tree endemic to southeastern Australia. This ''Eucalyptus'' species has mostly smooth bark, juvenile leaves that are whitish and waxy on ...
'' and ''Eucalyptus grandis
''Eucalyptus grandis'', commonly known as the flooded gum or rose gum, is a tall tree with smooth bark, rough at the base fibrous or flaky, grey to grey-brown. At maturity, it reaches tall, though the largest specimens can exceed tall. It is f ...
'' have been described as invasive in southern Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
.
Use
Bushy yate is a useful ornamental in Australia as a small screen, an individual specimen or as a grove. It has also been grown in other countries, including Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
. In the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
it is described as "a useful screen or attractive courtyard tree for areas as far north as San Francisco Bay".
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7212900
Trees of Australia
Eucalypts of Western Australia
Myrtales of Australia
lehmannii
Forests of Western Australia
Endemic flora of Western Australia
Plants described in 1867
Taxa named by Johannes Conrad Schauer