''Eucalyptus lesouefii'', commonly known as goldfields blackbutt, 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 ...

or 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 central

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 has rough, black bark on the lower trunk, smooth bark above, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, creamy white flowers and cup-shaped fruit. Eucalyptus lesouefii buds

Description

''Eucalyptus lesouefii'' is a mallet or tree that grows to a height 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 rough, flaky or crumbly black bark for up to at the base, smooth brownish, grey or coppery bark above. The trunk is low in height, often thick, dividing to upward spreading branches that become slender and slightly spreading in habit. 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 stems that are more or less square in cross-section and initially

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 ...

, egg-shaped leaves long and wide with a petiole. Adult leaves are the same dark green colour on both sides, lance-shaped or curved, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven in leaf axils 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 ...

long. Mature buds are pear-shaped to diamond-shaped, long and wide, with a beaked or slightly pointed operculum long. Flowering occurs in August, or from October to December or from January to February and the flowers are creamy white to yellow. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped to bell-shaped capsule, long and wide with the valves more or less at rim level and between ten and twelve deep contours along their length.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus lesouefii'' was first formally described in 1912 by

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 ...

from a specimen he collected near

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

. The description was published in his book in his ''A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus''. 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 ...

honours

Albert Sherbourne Le Souef Albert Sherbourne Le Souef (30 January 1877 – 31 March 1951) was an Australian zoologist. Le Souef was the son of Albert Alexander Cochrane Le Souef (1828–1902) and Caroline Le Souef (1834–1915), daughter of ornithologist John Cotton. Two o ...

for his assistance to Maiden.

Distribution and habitat

The goldfields blackbutt is found on flats and slopes, in alluvial areas and elsewhere, in the Coolgardie,

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross th ...

and Murchison biogeographic regions centred around

Kalgoorlie, Western Australia Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

. ''Eucalyptus lesouefii'' is generally found on sandy loam, and occasionally with clays or gravel soils.

Uses

The timber, useful as firewood, is light brown and has a high density. Trees are vulnerable to white ant infestation, which occupy individuals of all ages in its native habitat and reduce its utility. A record of it commonly occurring at Widgiemooltha was noted in the 1920s. Image:Goldfields Blackbutt in Primer of Forestry Poole 1922.png, Mature tree with man standing at right, circa 1920

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396933 Eucalypts of Western Australia Trees of Australia lesouefii Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1912 Taxa named by Joseph Maiden