Eucalyptus longicornis
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''Eucalyptus longicornis'', commonly known as red morrel, morryl, poot or pu, is a species of large 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 the south-west of Western Australia. It has rough, fibrous, fissured bark on the trunk, smooth greyish bark above, flower buds in groups of seven or more, white flowers and shortened spherical fruit.


Description

''Eucalyptus longicornis'' is a tree that typically that grows to a height of and can reach as high as . It has rough, grey brown, fibrous, often fissured bark on the trunk, smooth white to greyish bark above. Young plants and coppice regrowth have stems that are
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 ...
, more or less square in cross-section, and
sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...
, lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves that are long and wide. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, thick, the same shade of glossy green on both sides, linear to narrow lance-shaped, long and wide, tapering to a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of between seven and thirteen in leaf axils on an 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 oval, long and wide with a pointed operculum long. Flowering occurs between December and February and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody shortened spherical capsule long and wide with the valves protruding well above the rim of the fruit. The capsules contain over 200 seeds per gram and persist on the tree until at least the following year, often longer.


Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1878 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 ...
who gave it the name ''Eucalyptus oleosa'' var. ''longicornis'' and published the description in '' Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae''. In 1919
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 ...
noted that Mueller had referred to the species as ''Eucalyptus longicornis'', including in his book ''Eucalyptographia'' without having published a description of that species. Maiden published the new name in '' Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales'', acknowledging Mueller's first use of it. The
Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...
peoples know the tree as morryl, poot or put. 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 ...
(''longicornis'') is derived from the
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 ''longus'' meaning "long" and ''cornu'' meaning "horn", referring to the shape of the flower buds.


Distribution

The red morrel is distributed through the Wheatbelt and southern Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia. It is found growing in loamy soils, often over
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
or clay loam on flats. The dark red loams, that are rich in minerals and often slightly saline, associated with the decomposition of the fine-grained dolerite gneiss dykes and outcropping units of the Yilgarn Block best suit the tree.


Ecology

The species is usually found in
woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...
communities where it is an
overstorey In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant cropping or crop, formed by the collection of individual plant crowns. In forest ecology, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns an ...
tree, in an unmixed stand or with '' E. salmonophloia'' and either '' E. melanoxylon'', '' E. wandoo'', '' E. loxophleba'', '' E. astringens'' or '' E. kondininensis''. Associated species in the understorey include ''
Sclerolaena diacantha ''Sclerolaena diacantha'', the grey copperburr, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It ...
'', ''
Lycium australe ''Lycium australe'', the Australian boxthorn, is a native Australian plant with large sharp woody spines, small leaves and very small berries. It is closely related to ''Lycium ferocissimum'' (African boxthorn), which is listed as an invasive we ...
'', ''
Acacia merrallii ''Acacia merrallii'', commonly known as Merrall's wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Phyllodineae'' that is endemic to south western and southern Australia. Description The shrub typically grows to a height o ...
'', '' Melaleuca pauperiflora'' and '' Rhagodia drummondii''.


Conservation status

This eucalypt is classified as "not threatened" in Western Australia 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 ...
.


Uses

''Eucalyptus longicornis'' is a tall tree with potential to be cultivated on highly
alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a base (chemistry), basic, ionic compound, ionic salt (chemistry), salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as ...
, saline and clayey soils. It is marketed as an ornamental or windbreak species and is useful for
apiculture Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...
. The wood was used historically in the mining industry as a source of timber and fuel. The fine-textured, reddish to dark red-brown wood has considerable potential for use in high value furniture and craftwood.


See also

* List of ''Eucalyptus'' species


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7212964 Eucalypts of Western Australia Trees of Australia longicornis Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1878 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Taxa named by Joseph Maiden