''Eucalyptus socialis'' subsp. ''eucentrica'', commonly known as the inland red mallee, is a subspecies of mallee that is endemic to inland Australia. It usually has rough bark on the base of the trunk, smooth bark above, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between seven and eleven, pale creamy yellow flowers and barrel-shaped to urn-shaped or spherical fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus socialis'' subsp. ''eucentrica'' is a mallee that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It usually has rough, loose, fibrous or flaky bark at the base of the trunk, smooth tan to grey bark above. Adult leaves are the same shade of dull bluish green on both sides, lance-shaped, 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 ...

. The branchlets and flower buds have a waxy covering. 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 usually in groups of between seven and eleven, 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

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 long and wide with a horn-shaped operculum that is longer than the

floral cup In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube. It ...

. The flowers are pale creamy yellow and the fruit is a woody barrel-shaped to urn-shaped or spherical capsule long and wide.

Taxonomy and naming

In 1991, Lawrie Johnson and Ken Hill first formally described ''Eucalyptus eucentrica'' in the journal '' Telopea'' from specimens collected near Erldunda in the Northern Territory. In 2005,

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 ...

reduced the species to a subspecies of ''E. socialis'' as ''E. socialis'' subsp. ''eucentrica'', publishing the change in '' Australian Systematic Botany''. The change has been accepted by the Australian Plant Census. The epithet ''eucentrica'' is derived from ancient Greek word elements meaning "well" and "of the centre", referring to the subspecies' wide distribution in central Australia.

Distribution and habitat

Inland red mallee grows in mallee, often in stony places and with other eucalypts, including '' E. gamophylla'' and '' E. oxymitra''. It is widespread from the

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...

region of Western Australia to the southern Northern Territory and north-western South Australia, with scattered populations in central Queensland.

Conservation status

This mallee subspecies is classified as "not threatened" 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 ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q28813582 socialis Myrtales of Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of South Australia Flora of Queensland Eucalypts of Western Australia Plants described in 1991 Taxa named by Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson Taxa named by Ken Hill (botanist)