''Eucalyptus campaspe'', commonly known as silver gimlet
or the silver-topped gimlet,
is a species of 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
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 ...
. It has smooth, shiny bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped or conical fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus campaspe'' is a tree or
mallet
A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and proport ...
that typically grows to a height of and has smooth, shiny, silver to coppery bark. The stems are twisted and a
lignotuber is not formed. The leaves on young plants and on
coppice regrowth are lance-shaped to egg-shaped, long, wide and covered with a powdery white bloom. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, lance-shaped, long and wide on a
petiole long. They are also dull,
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 ...
to grey-green and weather to glossy with age. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven in leaf
axil
A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...
s on a flattened
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 flower buds are oval, long, wide and glaucous with a conical
operculum. Flowering occurs between January and March and the flowers are white. The fruit is a glaucous, woody, cup-shaped to hemispherical or conical
capsule long and wide with a broad disc and the valves protruding.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus campaspe'' was first formally described by the
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
Spencer Le Marchant Moore
Spencer Le Marchant Moore (1 November 1850 – 14 March 1931) was an English botanist.
Biography
Moore was born in Hampstead. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from about 1870 to 1879, wrote a number of botanical papers, and then work ...
in 1899 in a paper entitled ''The Botanical Results of a Journey into the Interior of Western Australia'', published in the ''
Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society
The ''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society'' is a scientific journal publishing original papers relating to the taxonomy of all plant groups and fungi, including anatomy, biosystematics, cytology, ecology, ethnobotany, electron microscopy, mo ...
''.
The
type specimen had been collected by Moore in 1895 from near Gibraltar in the
Goldfields
Goldfield or Goldfields may refer to:
Places
* Goldfield, Arizona, the former name of Youngberg, Arizona, a populated place in the United States
* Goldfield, Colorado, a community in the United States
* Goldfield, Iowa, a city in the United State ...
area of Western Australia.
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 ...
(''campaspe'') refers to
Campaspe
Campaspe (; Greek: Καμπάσπη, ''Kampaspē''), or Pancaste (; Greek: Πανκάστη, ''Pankastē''; also ''Pakate''), was a supposed mistress of Alexander the Great and a prominent citizen of Larissa in Thessaly. No Campaspe appears in ...
, the mistress of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
, but the allusion is not known.
''Eucalyptus campaspe'' is one of the six true gimlet species that have buds in groups of seven. The other true gimlets are ''
E. ravida'' , ''
E. effusa'' , ''
E. salubris'', ''
E. terebra'' and ''
E. tortilis''. The non-glaucous ''E. salubris'' is easily distinguished from ''E. ravida'' and ''E. campaspe'' both of which have conspicuously glaucous branchlets.
Distribution
Silver gimlet is found on stony hillsides and flats in the
Goldfields-Esperance region between
Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...
and
Norseman
The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the pre ...
where it grows in sandy-loam-clay soils.
[ It is often part of low woodland communities on calcareous plains or alluvial flats. Associated species in this environment include trees such as: '' E. salubris'', '' E. gracilis'' often with '' E. salmonophloia'' and '' Casuarina cristata''. Also included in these woodlands are shrubs like '']Santalum acuminatum
''Santalum acuminatum'', the desert quandong, is a hemiparasitic plant in the sandalwood family, Santalaceae, (Native to Australia) which is widely dispersed throughout the central deserts and southern areas of Australia.
The species, especiall ...
'', ''Atriplex vesicaria
''Atriplex vesicaria'', commonly known as bladder saltbush, is a species of flowering plant of the family ''Amaranthaceae'' and is endemic to arid and semi-arid inland regions of Australia. It is an upright or sprawling shrub with scaly leaves a ...
'', ''Atriplex nummularia
''Atriplex nummularia'' is a species of saltbush from the family ''Amaranthaceae'' and is a large woody shrub known commonly as oldman saltbush. ''A. nummularia'' is native to Australia and occurs in each of the mainland states, thriving in ari ...
'' and species of '' Eremophila'' and ''Dodonaea
''Dodonaea'' is a genus of about 70 species of flowering plants, often known as hop-bushes, in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. It has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of Africa, the Americas, so ...
''. Ground species in these communities include '' Plantago debilis'', '' Helipterum strictum'', '' Gnephosis brevifolia'', ''Ptilotus exaltatus
''Ptilotus exaltatus'', more commonly known as pink mulla mulla, is an erect Annual plant, annual herb Endemism, endemic to large parts of arid and semi-arid Australia. It grows throughout most areas of Australia except the Nullarbor Plain, occu ...
'' and '' Senecio glossanthus''.
See also
* List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15397166
Eucalypts of Western Australia
Trees of Australia
campaspe
Campaspe (; Greek: Καμπάσπη, ''Kampaspē''), or Pancaste (; Greek: Πανκάστη, ''Pankastē''; also ''Pakate''), was a supposed mistress of Alexander the Great and a prominent citizen of Larissa in Thessaly. No Campaspe appears in ...
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1898