![Eucalyptus mooreana buds](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Eucalyptus_mooreana_buds.jpg)
![Eucalyptus mooreana fruit](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Eucalyptus_mooreana_fruit.jpg)
''Eucalyptus mooreana'', commonly known as Moore's gum, mountain white gum
or King Leopold Range mallee,
is a species of stunted, straggly tree or
mallee 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
Kimberley region of Western Australia. It has smooth, powdery white bark, a
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 juvenile,
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 ...
, stem-clasping leaves arranged in opposite pairs, flower buds arranged in groups of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped to hemispherical fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus mooreana'' is a straggly tree or mallee that typically grows to a height of and often has a crooked trunk. It has smooth white, powdery bark that is shed annually to reveal pale pink new bark, and small branches that are
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 ...
. The leave in the crown are juvenile leaves that are sessile, stem-clasping, elliptical to heart-shaped or almost round, sometimes lance-shaped, long and wide and arranged in opposite pairs. The leaves are the same shade of dull greyish green to glaucous on both sides. The flower buds are arranged in leaf
axil
A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...
s in groups of seven on an unbranched
peduncle long, the individual buds usually sessile. Mature buds are oval to diamond-shaped, long and wide and red or maroon with a glaucous covering and a conical
operculum. Flowering occurs between May and August and the flowers are creamy white. The fruit is a woody, cup-shaped to hemispherical
capsule long and wide with the valves protruding above the rim. ''Eucalyptus mooreana'' is similar in appearance to, and closely related to the kalumburu gum (''
E. herbertiana'') and Halls Creek white gum (''
E. cupularis'') but can be distinguished from them by its crown of stem-clasping, juvenile leaves.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus mooreana'' was formally described by
William Vincent Fitzgerald
William Vincent Fitzgerald, (21 July 1867 – 6 August 1929) was an Australian botanist. He described five genera and about 210 species of plants from Western Australia, including 33 ''Acacia'' and several ''Eucalyptus'' species. He also collect ...
and the description was published in "The Western Mail" newspaper on 2 June 1906.
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 ...
(''mooreana'') honours
Newton James Moore
Major General Sir Newton James Moore, (17 May 1870 – 28 October 1936) was an Australian politician, businessman and army officer. He served as the eighth Premier of Western Australia from 1906 to 1910 and, following service in the First World ...
who was Minister of Lands at the time.
Further descriptions of the species as ''E. mooreana''
(W.V.Fitzg.) Maiden were published in 1920 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 ...
in his book ''A Critical Revision of the genus Eucalyptus'' but the
Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...
accepts Fitzgerald's original 1906 publication.
Distribution and habitat
''Eucalyptus mooreana'' is found on steep rocky slopes and summits in a small area of the
Kimberley region of Western Australia where it grows in red sandy soils over
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
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 tect ...
in the
Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges
The Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges (formerly between 1879 and 2020, the King Leopold Ranges) are a range of hills in the western Kimberley region of Western Australia.
There are two conservation parks within the ranges, the Wunaamin Conservation P ...
. It is isolated to six separate populations, five of which are in conservation areas and one on a
pastoral lease
A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands.
Australia
Pastoral lease ...
spread over a combined area of . One of the populations comprised 150 individual plants while the others have not been surveyed. It is found at reasonable high elevations including the summit of Mount Broome at , Bold Bluff and Mount Leake .
Conservation status
In 2008 the species is listed as "vulnerable" under the Australian Federal Government ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cultu ...
'' and as " Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)" by the Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia)
The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) was a department of the Government of Western Australia that was responsible for implementing the state's conservation and environment legislation and regulations. It was formed on 1 July 2006 ...
meaning that it is likely to become extinct or is rare, or otherwise in need of special protection. The main threats to the species are fire and grazing by cattle. It was listed as a near threatened species
A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...
with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natura ...
in 2019.
See also
* List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15398445
Eucalypts of Western Australia
mooreana
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1906
Taxa named by William Vincent Fitzgerald