''Eucalyptus tectifica'', commonly known as Darwin box,
or grey box,
is a species of 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 else ...
to northern Australia. It has rough, fibrous or flaky bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds usually in groups of seven, creamy white flowers and conical, cup-shaped or barrel-shaped fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus tectifica'' 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 rough, fibrous or flaky greyish bark on the trunk and branches. The tree is
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...
or partly deciduous during the
dry season
The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...
. 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 repeate ...
regrowth have egg-shaped to broadly lance-shaped leaves that are long and wide and
petiolate. Adult leaves are the same shade of green on both sides, lance-shaped or curved, long and wide, tapering to a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged on the ends of branchlets, usually in groups of seven, on a thin 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 oval to pear-shaped, long and wide with a beaked
operculum. Flowering occurs from October to December and the flowers are creamy white. The fruit is a woody conical, cup-shaped or barrel-shaped
capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus tectifica'' was first formally described by the botanist
Ferdinand von Mueller in 1859 in ''
Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany''.
The
specific epithet (''tectifica'') is from
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 ...
words meaning "a roof" and "to make", indicating the use of the bark by Aboriginal people to make shelters.
Distribution and habitat
Darwin box occurs across northern Australia from near
Broome in Western Australia to
Darwin in the Northern Territory, then as far east as near
Normanton in Queensland and on some islands in the
Gulf of Carpentaria. It is found on hillsides and along creeks in woodland, where it grows in skeletal sandy alluvium over
quartzite
Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...
,
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
or
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...
.
Conservation status
This eucalypt 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 ...
,
as "least concern" under the Northern Territory Government ''
Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 2000'' and 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 pro ...
''.
See also
*
List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15356304
Eucalypts of Western Australia
Trees of Australia
tectifica
Myrtales of Australia
Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller
Plants described in 1859