''Eucalyptus ornans'', commonly known as Avon peppermint,
is a species of
mallee that is
endemic to a restricted area in Victoria. It has smooth whitish to grey bark, slightly glossy, bluish green, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between seventeen and twenty one, white flowers and shortened hemispherical fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus ornans'' is a mallee that typically grows to a height of and has smooth whitish to light grey bark that is shed in strips and ribbons. Young plants and
coppice regrowth have
sessile leaves arranged in opposite pairs, narrow lance-shaped, bluish green on the upper surface and whitish below, long and wide. The
crown of the plant often contains intermediate leaves as well as adult leaves. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same slightly glossy green on both sides, narrow lance-shaped, long and wide on 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 in groups of between seventeen and twenty one 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 on thin
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, about long and wide with a conical
operculum about long and wide. Flowering occurs in summer and the flowers are white. The fruit is a sessile, woody, shortened hemispherical
capsule about long and wide with the valves below the rim of the fruit.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus ornans'' was first formally described in 2011 by
Kevin Rule
Kevin James Rule was born at Daylesford, Victoria on 9 November 1941. He was a secondary school teacher and had a particular interest in the taxonomy of Australian eucalyptus. He discovered several new species in Victoria. He is an honorary asso ...
and
William Molyneux in the journal ''
Muelleria'' but the description was not valid because no
holotype was designated.
A subsequent edition of the same journal corrected the
typification.
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 ...
(''ornans'') is from the
Latin word "ornatus", referring to the ornamental habit of this eucalypt.
Distribution
Avon peppermint is only known from a single population growing in coarse gravel near the
Avon River, near
Maffra
Maffra is a town in Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Wellington local government area and it is the second most populous city of the Shire. It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agriculture, and is the sit ...
.
Conservation status
This species is listed as "endangered" on the Victorian Government's Department of Sustainability and Environment's ''Advisory List of Rare Or Threatened Plants In Victoria''
and as "critically endangered" by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, noting that only ten mature individuals remain. The main threats to the species are climate change and severe weather events.
See also
*
List of Eucalyptus species
The following is an alphabetical list of ''Eucalyptus'' species accepted by the Australian Plant Census as at February 2019. Several species only occurring outside Australia, including '' E. orophila'', '' E. urophylla'' and '' E. wetarensis'' are ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q85759741
Flora of Victoria (state)
ornans
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 2011