''Eucalyptus crenulata'', commonly known as Buxton gum, silver gum or Victorian silver gum, is a rare species of medium-sized tree that is found only in the wild in a small area in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

but is widely planted. It has rough, compacted bark on the trunk,

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 ...

, egg-shaped to heart-shaped leaves arranged in opposite pairs, flower buds covered with a white, powdery bloom, white flowers and cup-shaped fruit. Eucalyptus crenulata habit

Description

''Eucalyptus crenulata'' is a tree that typically grows 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 hard, rough, compacted, grey to brown or black bark on the trunk and smooth grey or yellowish bark on the branches. The leaves on 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 are egg-shaped to heart-shaped, arranged in opposite pairs, paler on the lower surface, long, wide and lack 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 ...

. The adult leaves are similar to the juvenile leaves except that the juvenile leaves are covered with a powdery white bloom that eventually wears off. The edges of the leaves have small, rounded teeth. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven, nine or eleven in leaf

axil A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, fl ...

s on an unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds 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 almost spherical, covered with a powdery bloom, long and wide with a beaked operculum. Flowering occurs from September to February and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped capsule long and wide on a pedicel up to long with the valves enclosed below the rim.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus crenulata'' was first formally described in 1939 by

William Blakely William Faris Blakely (November 1875 – 1 September 1941) was an Australian botanist and collector. From 1913 to 1940 he worked in the National Herbarium of New South Wales, working with Joseph Maiden on ''Eucalyptus''. Maiden named a red gum ...

and Wilfred de Beuzeville from a specimen collected near

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

. The description was published in ''Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium''. 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 ...

(''crenulata'') is a

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 ...

word meaning "having small, rounded teeth", referring to the scalloped leaf edges.

Distribution and habitat

Buxton gum grows in swampy sites in the foothills of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...

. It is only known from two natural populations, one near the

Acheron River The Acheron ( or ; ''Acheron'' or Ἀχερούσιος ''Acherousios''; ''Acherontas'') is a river in the Epirus region of northwest Greece. It is long, and has a drainage area of . The river's source is located near the village Zotiko, in ...

valley near Buxton and the other on the

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower st ...

floodplain at Yering in Victoria, Australia. The species is widely cultivated however, and there are many more specimens in cultivation than in the natural environment.

Conservation

''Eucalyptus crenulata'' is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

and as "threatened" in

under the

Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 The ''Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988'', also known as the ''FFG Act'', is an act of the Victorian Parliament designed to protect species, genetic material and habitats, to prevent extinction and allow maximum genetic diversity within the Au ...

References

External links