''Eucalyptus mediocris'', commonly known as inland white mahogany, 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 ...
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 the Australian state of
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
.
Description
The tree grows to a height of around and has 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 fibrous, rough grey or yellowish grey-brown or orange-brown-grey coloured bark throughout. It is attached to the trunk in flat strips resembling a typical
stringybark
A stringybark can be any of the many ''Eucalyptus'' species which have thick, fibrous bark. Like all eucalypts, stringybarks belong to the family Myrtaceae. In exceptionally fertile locations some stringybark species (in particular messmate strin ...
.
The concolorous glossy green adult leaves are alternately arranged. The leaf blade has a lanceolate to falcate shape and are in length and wide. It flowers between July and October producing axillary unbranched
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
s but can appear to be arranged in clusters toward the end of the branch. The ovoid to obovoid shaped green to yellow mature buds are in length and wide and have creamy shaped flowers.
The fruit that form after flowering have a truncate-globose to hemispherical shape with a length of and a width of . The disc is almost level and has three or four valves. The fruit contain brown coloured seeds with a pyramidal shape and a length of about .
[
]
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanists Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson
Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson FAA, (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian taxonomic botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, for the whole of his professional career, as a botanist (1948 ...
and Ken Hill in 1992 as part of the work "A taxonomic revision of the White Mahogonies, ''Eucalyptus'' series ''Acmenoideae'' (Myrtaceae)" as published in the journal '' Telopea''.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 ...
is taken from the 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 ''mediocris'' meaning "middling" in reference to medium-sized habit of the tree.[
''E. mediocris'' is part of the white mahogany group as recognised by Ken Hill, others in the group include; '' E. acmenoides'', '' E. apothalassica'', '' E. carnea'', '' E. helidonica'', '' E. latisinensis'', '' E. psammitica'' and '' E. umbra''.][ ]
Distribution
The tree is native to an area of inland Queensland from around the Carnarvon Range
The Carnarvon Range is a mountain range in Central Queensland, Australia. It is a plateau section of the Great Dividing Range. The Carnarvon Range is 160 km in length.
Geography
North eastern parts of the range have formed a plateau kno ...
in the north east extending south to the Atherton Tableland
The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia.
The principal river flowing across the plateau is the Barron River. It was dammed to form an irrigation reservoir named Lake Tina ...
.[
]
See also
* List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15398012
Trees of Australia
mediocris
Myrtales of Australia
Flora of Queensland
Plants described in 1992