''Eucalyptus miniata'', commonly known as the Darwin woollybutt or woolewoorrng, is a species of medium-sized to tall 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, fibrous, brownish bark on the trunk, smooth greyish bark above. Adult leaves are lance-shaped, the flower buds are ribbed and arranged in groups of seven, the flowers orange or scarlet and the fruit is cylindrical to barrel-shaped or urn-shaped, with ribs along the sides.

Description

''Eucalyptus miniata'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of , sometimes as tall as , usually with a single trunk, 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 ...

. The bark is soft, rough, fibrous and fissured, grey to red-yellow-brown in colour on the trunk with white to pale grey smooth bark on the upper trunk and branches. 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 greenish-brown leaves that are elliptical in shape, long and wide. Adult leaves are dull to slightly glossy green, paler on the lower surface, lance-shaped to curved, long and wide. tapering to a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven on an unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds

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 ...

or on pedicles up to long. Mature buds are club-shaped, rarely spindle-shaped,

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''), ...

, long and wide with ribs along the sides and a rounded to conical operculum. Flowering occurs from May to September and the flowers are orange or scarlet and up to in diameter. The fruits are woody, cylindrical to barrel-shaped or urn-shaped capsules long, wide and have longitudinal ribbing with the valves enclosed below the level of the rim. The fruits are glaucous at first but lose that covering over time and contain seeds that are dark grey to black, long with an obliquely pyramidal to flattened cuboid shape.

Taxonomy and naming

The species was first formally described by the

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Johannes Conrad Schauer Johannes Conrad Schauer (16 February 1813 – 24 October 1848) was a botanist interested in spermatophytes. He was born in Frankfurt am Main and attended the gymnasium of Mainz from 1825 to 1837. For the next three years he worked at the Hofgar ...

in 1843 in

Wilhelm Gerhard Walpers Wilhelm Gerhard Walpers (26 December 1816 in Mühlhausen – 18 June 1853 in Berlin) was a German botanist. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing a botanical name. He received his education at the Universities of Greif ...

work ''Repertorium Botanices Systematicae'' from an unpublished description by Allan Cunningham. The species name ''miniata'' is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

meaning ''flame-scarlet'' referring to the colour of the filaments of the flowers. The Miriwoong people of the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

call the tree ''woolewoorrng''.

Distribution and habitat

''Eucalyptus miniata'' is commonly found in open forest, savanna communities and on sandstone escarpments, growing in sandy soils. It is widely distributed from the

region in Western Australia and through northern parts of the Northern Territory to the

Burketown Burketown is an isolated outback town and coastal Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Burke, Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Cairns and west of Normanton, Queensland, Normanton on the Albert River (Gulf Sa ...

region of far northwestern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. It occurs in the

Arnhem Coast The Arnhem Coast, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory,IBR ...

Arnhem Plateau The Arnhem Plateau is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, Australian bioregion located in the Northern Territory of Australia, comprising an area of of the raised and heavily dissected sandstone plateau that characterises c ...

Central Kimberley The Central Kimberley, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the central Kimberley region of Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, t ...

Daly Basin The Daly Basin, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory,IBRA ...

Darwin Coastal The Darwin Coastal, an IBRA bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory of Australia.IBR ...

Einasleigh Uplands The Einasleigh Uplands is an interim Australian bioregion, with vegetation consisting of savanna and woodland located on a large plateau in inland Queensland, Australia. It corresponds to the Einasleigh Uplands savanna ecoregion, as identified ...

Gulf Coastal The Gulf Coastal, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory,IBR ...

, Gulf Fall and Uplands, Gulf Plains,

Northern Kimberley The Northern Kimberley, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia,Ord Victoria Plain The Ord Victoria Plain, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, comprising .

, Pine Creek,

Tiwi Cobourg Tiwi Cobourg is an interim Australian bioregion located in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia. It has an area of , which includes the Cobourg Peninsula of Arnhem Land, Croker Island, and the Tiwi Islands. The bioregion is part o ...

, and

Victoria Bonaparte The Victoria Bonaparte, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory and Western Australia,

bioregions A bioregion is a geographical area, on land or at sea, defined not by administrative boundaries, but by distinct characteristics such as plant and animal species, ecological systems, soils and landforms, human settlements, and topographic featur ...

Ecology

Red-tailed black cockatoo The red-tailed black cockatoo (''Calyptorhynchus banksii'') also known as Banksian- or Banks' black cockatoo, is a large black cockatoo native to Australia. Adult males have a characteristic pair of bright red panels on the tail that gives ...

s living in the north of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

prefer feeding on the Darwin woollybutt.

Conservation status

''Eucalyptus miniata'' 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 en ...

. Image:Eucalyptus Miniata Flowers (18950101703).jpg, flowers on a tree near

Humpty Doo Humpty Doo is a town in Australia's Northern Territory, situated just south of the Arnhem Highway, approximately 40 km from Darwin. At the , Humpty Doo had a population of 4,313 people. Its local government area is Litchfield Municipality ...

Image:Eucalyptus miniata from "Eucalyptographia. A descriptive atlas of the eucalypts of Australia and the adjoining islands"; (1879) (20165942804).jpg, illustration from ''Eucalyptographia''

References