''Eucalyptus rupestris'', commonly known as Prince Regent gum,
is a species of small tree 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 bark, elliptical to egg-shaped or broadly lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped to more or less cylindrical fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus rupestris'' is a tree 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, white to grey bark that is pale orange and powdery when new. Young 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 egg-shaped to round leaves that are long and wide and
petiolate
Petiole may refer to:
*Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem
*Petiole (insect anatomy)
In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, a ...
. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same shade of dull green on both sides, elliptic, to egg-shaped or broadly lance-shaped, long and wide, tapering to a petiole long. The flower buds are mostly 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, sometimes clustered near the ends of branchlets, on a
peduncle long, the individual buds 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 to cylindrical, about long and wide with a conical to rounded
operculum. Flowering occurs from May to August and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped to more or less cylindrical
capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus rupestris'' was first formally described in 1986 by
Ian Brooker
Murray Ian Hill Brooker AM (2 June 1934 – 25 June 2016), better known as Ian Brooker, was an Australian botanist. He was widely recognised as the leading authority on the genus ''Eucalyptus''.
Ian Brooker was born in Adelaide, South Australi ...
and
Christopher Charles Done from material collected in
Prince Regent River Reserve by
Alex George in 1974.
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 ...
(''rupestris'') is a
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 meaning "rocky", referring to the situation in which this species is usually found.
Distribution and habitat
Prince Regent gum grows in sand on sandstone ridges, including near the
Prince Regent River
The Prince Regent River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The headwaters of the river rise in the Caroline Range near Mount Agnes then flow in a north westerly direction. The river enters and flows through the Prince R ...
,
Mitchell River and
Drysdale River National Park
Drysdale River National Park is a national park in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, northeast of Perth.
The park lies about south of Kalumburu and west of Wyndham.
The park is the largest and least accessible in the Kimberley, w ...
in the Kimberley region.
Conservation status
This eucalypt is classified 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=Q15355265
Eucalypts of Western Australia
Trees of Australia
rupestris
Myrtales of Australia
Taxa named by Ian Brooker
Plants described in 1986