''Eucalyptus ordiana'' is a species of small tree or a
mallee that is
endemic to the
Kimberley
Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to:
Places and historical events
Australia
* Kimberley (Western Australia)
** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley
* Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania
* Kimberley, Tasmania a small town
* County of Kimberley, a ...
area of Western Australia. It has smooth, powdery bark, egg-shaped leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus ordiana'' is a tree or mallee that typically grows to a height of and forms a
lignotuber. It has smooth, white, powdery bark on the trunk and branches. Young plants and
coppice regrowth have bluish grey to
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 ...
, more or less round leaves that are long and wide. Adult leaves are the same shade of dull greyish green on both sides, egg-shaped to broadly lance-shaped, long and wide, tapering to a
petiole long. 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 on an unbranched
peduncle Peduncle may refer to:
*Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed
*Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body
**Peduncle (art ...
long, the individual buds
sessile. Mature buds are glaucous, oval, long and wide with a conical to beaked
operculum. Flowering occurs from April to May and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, glaucous, cup-shaped
capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus ordiana'' was first formally described in 1992 by
Clyde Dunlop Clyde may refer to:
People
* Clyde (given name)
* Clyde (surname)
Places
For townships see also Clyde Township
Australia
* Clyde, New South Wales
* Clyde, Victoria
* Clyde River, New South Wales
Canada
* Clyde, Alberta
* Clyde, Ontario, a to ...
and
Christopher Done in the journal ''
Nuytsia'' from material collected near
Lake Kununurra
Lake Kununurra is a freshwater man-made reservoir located in the Ord River valley. The lake was formed in 1963 by the construction of the Ord Diversion Dam in Kununurra, northern Western Australia, which was built to supply water to the Ord Ri ...
in the Kimberley.
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 ...
''ordiana'' refers to the
Ord River with a Latin ending meaning "belonging to".
Distribution and habitat
This eucalypt grows in shrubland and open woodland on sandstone ranges. It is only known from near
Kununurra.
Conservation status
This species is classified as "
Priority Two" 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 ...
meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.
See also
*
List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15353916
Eucalypts of Western Australia
ordiana
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1992