''Eucalyptus stowardii'', commonly known as fluted-horn 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 the south-west of Western Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, creamy white flowers and ribbed, cylindrical to cup-shaped fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus stowardii'' is a mallee that typically grows to a height of and forms a
lignotuber. It has smooth grey bark on the trunk and branches. Young plants and
coppice regrowth have dull bluish green, egg-shaped to lance-shaped 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 the same shade of glossy green on both sides, lance-shaped, long and wide, tapering at the base 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, usually in groups of seven on a thin, unbranched 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 ...
long. Mature buds are a blunt, elongated oval shape, long and wide and finely ribbed with a rounded
operculum about the same length as 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 ...
. Flowering occurs between June and November and the flowers are creamy white.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus stowardii'' was first formally described in 1917 by
Joseph Maiden
Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus ''Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing ...
in the ''
Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales'' from specimens collected near
Kellerberrin by
Frederick Stoward
Frederick Stoward (1866–14 December 1931) was the Government Botanist with the Department of Agriculture in Western Australia from 1911 to 1917.
Born at Axbridge, Somerset, England, he was a member of the Hardy family famous for the Hardy Wi ...
.
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 ...
honours the collector of the
type
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type, collection of values used for computations.
* File type
* TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file.
* Ty ...
specimens.
Distribution and habitat
The fluted-horn mallee is found on stony rises, limestone hills and road verges between
Dowerin,
Carnamah and
Wubin in the central northern
Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, where it grows in open shrubland in gravelly sand-loam soils.
Conservation status
This mallee 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 ...
.
See also
*
List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15356046
Eucalypts of Western Australia
stowardii
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1917
Taxa named by Joseph Maiden