''Eucalyptus tortilis'' is a species of
mallet
A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and proport ...
and a
gimlet
Gimlet may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Gimlet Media, a media network that produces journalistic and narrative podcasts
* Gimlet (Transformers), a fictional character
* Captain Lorrington "Gimlet" King, a fictional character in a s ...
that is
endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, creamy white flowers and hemispherical to cup-shaped fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus tortilis'' is a mallet and a gimlet, that typically grows to a height of , has fluted stems and does not form a
lignotuber. It has smooth, shiny greenish or copper-coloured bark. The adult leaves are the same shade of glossy green on both sides, lance-shaped, long and wide tapering 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 in groups of seven 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 ...
up to 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 an elongated oval shape, long and wide with a conical to beaked
operculum. Flowering occurs in May and the flowers are creamy white.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus tortilis'' was first formally described in 1991 by
Lawrie Johnson and
Ken Hill in the journal ''
Telopea'' from specimens collected east of
Norseman
The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the pre ...
in 1983. 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 ...
(''tortilis'') is a
Latin word meaning "twisted", referring to the twisted gimlet trunk.
''E. tortilis'' is one of the nine gimlet species. Six of these, including ''E. tortilis'' have buds in groups of seven, the others being ''
E. campaspe'', the
mallee ''
E. effusa'', ''
E. jimberlanica'', ''
E. salubris'', ''
E. ravida'' and ''
E. terebra''. The other three gimlets have flower buds in groups of three.
Distribution and habitat
This gimlet is found on flats and rises between
Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...
and
Esperance in the
Goldfields-Esperance region where it grows in calcareous loamy soils.
[
]
Conservation status
This eucalypt is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
See also
* List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15356772
tortilis
Endemic flora of Western Australia
Mallees (habit)
Myrtales of Australia
Eucalypts of Western Australia
Plants described in 1991
Taxa named by Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson
Taxa named by Ken Hill (botanist)