''Eucalyptus salubris'', commonly known as gimlet, fluted gum tree, gimlet gum and silver-topped gimlet, is a species of mallet 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 low-rainfall areas of the wheatbelt and goldfields regions 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 th ...

Description

''Eucalyptus salubris'' grows as a mallet, usually from high, but sometimes as low as and does not form 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 smooth, strongly fluted trunks and stems, and white or cream flowers from September to March. ''E. salubris'' is one of the nine true gimlet species that have buds in groups of seven. The adult leaves are arranged alternately on the branchlets and the same glossy green colour on both sides, with petioles that are long. The leaf blade is narrow lance-shaped, usually long and wide with the base tapering to the petiole, and a pointed apex. The flowers are arranged in groups of seven in the leaf axils on stout, unbranched peduncles. The groups are broadest near the tip and approximately long. The fruit are hemispherical to cone-shaped with the narrower end towards the base and wide. The rim of tissue around the edge of the fruit where the "cap" or operculum was attached is level to sloping. The seed capsules remain on trees until the following spring and abundant quantities are often present. There are about 400 viable seeds found in every gram.

Taxonomy

The species was first published in 1876 by Ferdinand von Mueller, based on specimens collected at

Queen Victoria Spring Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

Jess Young Jess Young (Jesse) (1851–1909) was an English traveller. He is best known as an explorer who accompanied Ernest Giles during his fourth expedition, making some important botanical collections along the way. Life He was a younger son of Richard ...

during the Giles expedition of May 1875. The specific epithet (''salubris'') is 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 "healthful", "wholesome" or "beneficial", in reference to the healthy appearance of the tree. The common name refers to the fluted or twisted trunks, resembling a carpenter’s gimlet which is a boring tool. There are no subspecies or varieties. A variety was published by

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 ...

in 1919 as ''E. s.'' subsp. ''glauca'', but this was promoted to species rank as '' E. ravida'' in 1991. Hybrids with '' E. tortilis'' have been reported. The species belongs in ''Eucalyptus'' subgenus ''Symphyomyrtus'' section ''Bisectae'' subsection ''Glandulosae''. This section has buds with two opercula and the cotyledons are bisected and the branchlets have numerous oil glands in the pith. ''E. salubris'' also belongs to a well known small group, the gimlets, notable for the slender fluted, twisted shiny trunks. ''E. salubris'' is one of the nine true gimlet species that have buds in groups of seven, and the only gimlet that is a mallee. The other true gimlets are '' E. campaspe'', '' E. creta'', '' E. diptera'', '' E. jimberlanica'', '' E. ravida'', '' E. terebra'', ''E. effusa'' and '' E. tortilis''. '' Eucalyptus tortilis'' is morphologically closest to ''E. salubris'' differing only in having larger buds with more acute operculum and slightly larger fruit.

Distribution and habitat

This gimlet has a wide distribution, occurring throughout the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low reli ...

and Coolgardie biogeographic regions, with outliers as far west as

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

and as far south as Esperance. The relief is generally gentle slopes. It grows in a range of soils: red loams, red clay loams, yellow and red sand, and laterite. The species is widespread through the Wheatbelt and the southern part of the Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia. It is found from Mullewa in the north-west extending to the south-east near Pingrup and extending east and north as far as Norseman and

Zanthus Zanthus is a remote and uninhabited outpost on the Trans-Australian Railway approximately east of the regional city of Kalgoorlie in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia. Transport A depot existed at Zanthus prior to 1915 ...

to the western part of the

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cros ...

and north to around Laverton.

Uses

The species is used for fence posts, good ornamental attributes or shelterbelt or shade trees for stock. The flowers produce nectar for honey production, pollen has value for apiculture or high

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'' ...

content in bark. The frost resistant and

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

tolerant tree is grown throughout the world. In Western Australia its preference for rich loamy soils have resulted in large stands of the species being cleared for farmland.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=July 2019 salubris Endemic flora of Western Australia Mallees (habit) Myrtales of Australia Eucalypts of Western Australia Trees of Australia Trees of Mediterranean climate Goldfields-Esperance Wheatbelt (Western Australia) Plants described in 1876 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller