''Eucalyptus buprestium'', also known as the apple mallee or ball-fruited mallee, is a small mallee 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 an area along the south coast of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. It has smooth bark, narrow lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds arranged in groups of between nine and fifteen, white flowers and almost spherical fruit with a small opening. Eucalyptus buprestium buds

Description

''Eucalyptus buprestium'' is a mallee that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has smooth greenish brown and cream-coloured bark that ages to grey and is shed in ribbons. Young plants have dull green, elliptic,

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 ...

leaves arranged in opposite pairs, long and wide. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, greyish green, narrow lance-shaped, long and wide on 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 between nine and fifteen on a peduncle long, the individual flowers on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

long. The mature buds are oval to pear-shaped, long and wide with a rounded operculum sometimes with a small point on the end. Flowering occurs from September to December, sometimes as late as April and the flowers are white. November and April producing white flowers. The fruit is a woody, almost spherical capsule long and wide, with a small opening enclosing the valves.

Taxonomy

''Eucalyptus buprestium'' was first formally described by the botanist

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 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 Victoria, Australia ...

in 1862 and the description was published in his book ''

Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae ''Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae'' is a series of papers written by the Victorian Government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in which he published many of his approximately 2000 descriptions of new taxa of Australian plants. Including the p ...

''. 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 ...

(''buprestium'') alludes to the

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

genus '' Bupestris'', "referring to the attraction the mallees had for some beetles". The species is part of the ''Eucalyptus'' subgenus series ''Diversiformae'', a group of mallees that all have adult leaves held erect, buds with a single unscarred operculum and pyramidal seeds. The other species in this series include '' E. erectifolia'', '' E. platydisca'', '' E.diversifolia'', '' E. todtiana'', '' E. lateritica'', '' E. dolorosa'' and '' E. pachyloma''.

Distribution

Apple mallee is found on coastal and near-coastal sandplains and ridge tops along the south coast in the Great Southern region of Western Australia between Albany in the west, Mount Barker in the north and Jerramungup in the east where it grows in gravelly sandy-clay soils.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396879 Eucalypts of Western Australia Trees of Australia buprestium Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1862 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Mallees (habit)

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

See also

References