''Eucalyptus livida'', commonly known as wandoo 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 else ...
to Western Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of eleven or more, creamy white flowers and barrel-shaped fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus livida'' is a malle or a small tree 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, greyish and orange bark. The adult leaves are lance-shaped or narrow lance-shaped, long and wide, tapering to a
petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of eleven or more 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 spindle-shaped, long and wide. The flowers are creamy white and the fruit is a woody, barrel-shaped
capsule long and wide with the valves at rim level.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus livida'' was first formally described in 1991 by
Ian Brooker
Murray Ian Hill Brooker AM (2 June 1934 – 25 June 2016), better known as Ian Brooker, was an Australian botanist. He was widely recognised as the leading authority on the genus ''Eucalyptus''.
Ian Brooker was born in Adelaide, South Australi ...
and
Stephen Hopper from a specimen collected by Brooker near
Peak Charles Peak or The Peak may refer to:
Basic meanings Geology
* Mountain peak
** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics
* Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion
* Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-d ...
in 1988. The description was published in the journal ''
Nuytsia
''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...
''.
The
specific epithet (''livida'') is a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word meaning "bluish", or "lead-coloured" referring to the colour of the
crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
of this species.
Distribution and habitat
Wandoo mallee is found among decomposing rocky breakaway areas, growing in sandy-loamy 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
ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...
. It occurs in the central and southern goldfields, especially between
Coolgardie,
Norseman, Peak Charles and Hatters Hill, where it is sometimes the dominant species.
Conservation status
This eucalypt is classified as "not threatened" in Western Australia 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 ...
.
See also
*
List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396350
Eucalypts of Western Australia
Trees of Australia
livida
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1991
Taxa named by Ian Brooker
Taxa named by Stephen Hopper
Endemic flora of Southwest Australia
Coolgardie woodlands
Great Western Woodlands