'' Eucalyptus curtisii'', commonly known as Plunkett mallee,
is a species of
mallee or small 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 south-east
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 ...
in Australia. It has smooth grey to silvery bark, lance-shaped, narrow elliptic or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and wrinkled, cup-shaped fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus curtisii'' is a slender mallee or small 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 smooth grey to silvery bark that is shed in short curly flakes. 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 linear to narrow lance-shaped leaves that are long and wide and a slightly darker shade of green on the upper surface. Adult leaves are lance-shaped, elliptic or curved, glossy green but much paler on the lower surface. They are 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 seven on a branching
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 branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...
near the ends of the stems, each branch with groups of seven buds. The groups are on a
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. Mature buds are oval to pear-shaped, long and wide with a rounded
operculum. Flowering occurs from September to December and the flowers are white to creamy white. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped, wrinkled
capsule long and wide.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus curtisii'' was first formally described in 1931 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
Cyril White from a specimen collected on sandstone hills "near Plunkett,
ow Plunkett Conservation Park
OW, O.W. or ow may refer to:
* ''Ow!'', an interjection that denotes pain
* ow (digraph), an English digraph
* "Ow!" (composition), a Dizzy Gillespie bebop jazz composition
* Obwalden, a canton of Switzerland
* Organization Workshop, a method o ...
about south-west of Brisbane". The description was publish in ''
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland
''Proceedings of The Royal Society of Queensland'' is a multidisciplinary scientific journal published by The Royal Society of Queensland
The Royal Society of Queensland was formed in Queensland, Australia in 1884 from the Queensland Philos ...
''.
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 ...
(''curtisii'') honours Densil Curtis, a farmer and naturalist, who collected the
type
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type, collection of values used for computations.
* File type
* TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file.
* ...
specimens in 1923 and 1929.
Distribution and habitat
Plunkett mallee grows in shrubland and open forest in poorly drained sites between
Beenleigh
Beenleigh is a town and suburb in the City of Logan, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Beenleigh had a population of 8,425 people.
A government survey for the new town was conducted in 1866. The town is the terminus for the Beenle ...
,
Inglewood Inglewood may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Inglewood, Queensland
* Shire of Inglewood, Queensland, a former local government area
*Inglewood, South Australia
*Inglewood, Victoria
*Inglewood, Western Australia
Canada
* Inglewood, Ontario
*Inglewoo ...
,
Dalby, and
Theodore Theodore may refer to:
Places
* Theodore, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
* Theodore, Queensland, Australia
* Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Theodore, Alabama, United States
* Theodore Reservoir, in Saskatchewan
People
* Theodore (gi ...
in south-east Queensland .
Cultural references
''Eucalyptus curtisii'' was adopted by
Ipswich City Council
The City of Ipswich is a local government area (LGA) located within the southwest of Greater Brisbane, which in turn, is situated within the vast South East region of the state of Queensland. Positioned between the City of Brisbane and the Cit ...
as its
floral emblem
In a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions. Different processes have been used t ...
in 1996.
See also
*
List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2712032
Flora of Queensland
Trees of Australia
curtisii
Myrtales of Australia
Rare flora of Australia
Mallees (habit)
Plants described in 1931
Taxa named by William Blakely