''Eucalyptus brevifolia'', commonly known as snappy white gum or northern white gum,
is a 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 smooth, powdery white bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, buds arranged in group of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped or barrel-shaped fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus brevifolia'' 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 ...
. The bark is smooth, white and powdery. 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 four-sided stems with a powdery bloom and oval to triangular leaves long and wide. Adult leaves are mostly lance-shaped, the same dull blue-grey on both sides, long and wide on a
petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven 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, ste ...
s on a
peduncle long, the individual buds on a
pedicel that is
sessile or up to long. The mature buds are oval to pear-shaped, long and wide with a more or less rounded
operculum that is narrower than the
floral cup at the join. Flowering occurs between March and August and the flowers are white or creamy yellow. The fruit is a woody, cup-shaped to barrel-shaped or hemispherical
capsule long and wide with the valves at rim level or slightly beyond.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus brevifolia'' was first formally described in 1859 by
Ferdinand von Mueller
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...
and the description was published in the ''
Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany''.
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, bo ...
(''brevifolia'') is from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, 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 ...
words ''brevis'' meaning "short" and ''folium'' meaning "leaf",
[Backer, C.A. (1936). ''Verklarend woordenboek der wetenschappelijke namen van de in Nederland en Nederlandsch-Indië in het wild groeiende en in tuinen en parken gekweekte varens en hoogere planten'' (Edition Nicoline van der Sijs).] referring to the relatively short leaves.
Distribution and habitat
Snappy white gum grows on slopes and rocky hill tops in the
Kimberley region of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...
and in nearby parts of the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
between the
Victoria River and the northern
Tanami Desert where it grows in shallow skeletal soils.
[
]
See also
* List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15400518
Eucalypts of Western Australia
Trees of Australia
brevifolia
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1859
Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller