''Corymbia greeniana'' is a species of tree that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to northern Australia. It has rough bark on some or all of the trunk and larger branches, smooth bark above, broadly lance-shaped to egg-shaped adult leaves, flower buds usually in groups of seven, creamy white flowers and urn-shaped fruit with a distinct neck.

Description

''Corymbia greeniana'' is a tree that typically 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 respons ...

. It has rough, loose, flaky, tessellated brownish bark on some or all of the trunk, sometimes also on the larger branches, smooth white and pale grey bark above. Young plants and

coppice Coppicing is the traditional method in woodland management of cutting down a tree to a tree stump, stump, which in many species encourages new Shoot (botany), shoots to grow from the stump or roots, thus ultimately regrowing the tree. A forest ...

regrowth have dull green, more or less round to broadly egg-shaped leaves that are long, wide and petiolate. Adult leaves are more or less the same shade of green on both sides, broadly lance-shaped to egg-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged on the ends of branchlets on a branched peduncle long, each branch of the peduncle with seven, sometimes nine buds, on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branch ...

long. Mature buds are oval to pear-shaped, long and wide with a rounded operculum that has a small point in the centre. Flowering occurs from January to May and the flowers are creamy white. The fruit is a woody urn-shaped capsule long and wide with a short vertical neck and the valves enclosed in the fruit.

Taxonomy and naming

This eucalypt was first formally described in 1987 by Denis Carr and Stella Carr and was given the name ''Eucalyptus greeniana''. In 1995 Ken Hill and

Lawrie Johnson Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian taxonomic botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, for the whole of his professional career, as a botanist (1948–1 ...

changed the name to ''Corymbia greeniana''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''greeniana'') honours Marjorie Free (née Marjorie Green), an herbarium curator.

Distribution and habitat

''Corymbia greeniana'' grows on red and yellow

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

soils, sometimes on

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, 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 planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

or volcanic rocks in open savannah woodland. It occurs in the

Kimberley, Western Australia The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, and on ...

region of Western Australia and east through the

Top End The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a ...

between

Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

and Mataranke in the Northern Territory to Doomadgee and scattered areas of the southern

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

in Queensland.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396695 greeniana Rosids of Western Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of Queensland Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1987 Taxa named by Maisie Carr