''Eucalyptus farinosa'' 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 Queensland. It has hard, dark grey
ironbark
Ironbark is a common name of a number of species in three taxonomic groups within the genus ''Eucalyptus'' that have dark, deeply furrowed bark.
Instead of being shed annually as in many of the other species of ''Eucalyptus'', the dead bark accu ...
, egg-shaped to lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped to barrel-shaped and ribbed fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus farinosa'' is an ironbark 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 hard, dark grey to black bark to the small branches. 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
glaucous
''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...
stems and leaves, the leaves
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 ...
, more or less round, long and wide. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same dull green glaucous colour on both sides, elliptical to egg-shaped or broadly lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven on a branching
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 glaucous, oval to spindle-shaped, long and wide with a conical
operculum. Flowering has been recorded in October and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, glaucous, cup-shaped to barrel-shaped
capsule long and wide on a pedicel up to long with longitudinal ribs and the valves close to rim level.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus farinosa'' was first formally described in 1997 by
Ken Hill from a specimen collected 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 ...
on Mount Stewart near
Charters Towers
Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits under ...
and the description was published in the journal ''
Telopea''.
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 ...
(''farinosa'') is from 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 "floury" or "mealy", referring to the coating on the leaves, buds and fruit of this species.
Distribution
This tree is only known from the
type location near the
Campaspe River
The Campaspe River, an inland intermittent river of the northcentral catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the lower Riverina bioregion and Central Highlands and Wimmera regions of the Australian state of Victoria. The he ...
and Mount Stewart in Queensland.
Conservation status
This eucalypt is classified as "least concern" under the Queensland Government
Nature Conservation Act 1992
The ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'' is an act of the Parliament of Queensland, Australia, that, together with subordinate legislation, provides for the legislative protection of Queensland's threatened biota.
As originally published, it prov ...
.
See also
*
List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396123
Flora of Queensland
farinosa
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1997