''Eucalyptus rugosa'', commonly known as the Kingscote mallee,
is a species of
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 coastal areas of southern Western Australia and South Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between seven and thirteen, white flowers and cup-shaped, conical or hemispherical fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus rugosa'' is a mallee 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, cream-coloured to grey bark, sometimes with strips of bark hanging in the upper branches. Youn plants and
coppice
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeated ...
regrowth have dull green to greyish green, egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves that are long and wide. Adult leaves are the same shade of glossy green on both sides, lance-shaped or broadly 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 seven and thirteen on an unbranched
peduncle long, the individual buds
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 ...
or 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 ...
up to long. Mature buds are oval or cylindrical, long and wide with a rounded to flattened
operculum. Flowering occurs from September to November or from January to February or May and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped, conical or hemispherical
capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level or slightly protruding.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus rugosa'' was first formally described in 1903 by
William Blakely
William Faris Blakely (November 1875 – 1 September 1941) was an Australian botanist and collector. From 1913 to 1940 he worked in the National Herbarium of New South Wales, working with Joseph Maiden on ''Eucalyptus'', Maiden named a ''red g ...
from an unpublished manuscript by
Robert Brown. Blakely's description was published in his book ''A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus''.
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 ...
(''rugosa'') is 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 ...
''rugosus'' meaning "wrinkled", referring to the buds and fruit.
Distribution and habitat
Kingscote mallee grows in
mallee shrubland in shallow soils over limestone in coastal districts.
Dean Nicolle
270px, Dean Nicolle and '' Eucalyptus deanei''
Dean Nicolle (born 1974), is an Australian botanist, arborist and ecologist. He is widely recognised as the leading authority on the genus ''Eucalyptus''.
Nicolle was born in Adelaide, South Austr ...
considers the species to be endemic to South Australia, occurring between
Fowlers Bay in the east to the south-east coast and
Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...
, but ''E. rugosa'' is also considered to occur in Western Australia by the
Western Australian Herbarium
The Western Australian Herbarium is the State Herbarium in Perth, Western Australia.
It is part of the State government's Department of Parks and Wildlife, and has responsibility for the description and documentation of the flora of Western Austr ...
.
Conservation status
This mallee is listed 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=Q15355135
Eucalypts of Western Australia
rugosa
The rugosa, also called the tetracorallia or horn coral, are an extinct order of solitary and colonial corals that were abundant in Middle Ordovician to Late Permian seas.
Solitary rugosans (e.g., '' Caninia'', '' Lophophyllidium'', '' Neoza ...
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1934
Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)