''Eucalyptus erectifolia'', commonly known as Stirling Range mallee,
is a species of
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 Western Australia. It has smooth bark, narrow lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between seven and thirteen, white flowers and cup-shaped fruit.
Description
''Eucalyptus erectifolia'' is a mallee that typically grows to a height of , has smooth grey bark 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 ...
. 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
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 elliptical leaves long, wide and arranged in opposite pairs. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, narrow lance-shaped, long, 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 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 in groups of between seven and thirteen 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. Mature buds are oval to spindle-shaped, long, wide with a conical
operculum. Flowering occurs between March and May and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, broadly cup-shaped
capsule long, wide with the valves near the level of the rim.
Taxonomy and naming
''Eucalyptus erectifolia'' was first formally described in 1986 by
Ian Brooker
Murray Ian Hill Brooker Order of Australia, AM (2 June 1934 – 25 June 2016), better known as Ian Brooker, was an Australian botanist. He was widely recognised as the leading authority on the genus ''Eucalyptus''.
Ian Brooker was born in Adelai ...
and
Stephen Hopper
Stephen Donald Hopper (born 18 June 1951) is a Western Australian botanist. He graduated in Biology, specialising in conservation biology and vascular plants. Hopper has written eight books, and has over 200 publications to his name. He was Direc ...
from a specimen collected in the
Stirling Range
The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranbro ...
in 1981. The description was published in the journal ''
Nuytsia
''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...
''.
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 ...
(''erectifolia'') is derived from the
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 ...
"erectus"
and ''-folia'' meaning "leaved"
referring to the way the leaves are held in the
crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...
.
This species is part of the subgenus ''Eucalyptus'' series ''Diversiformae'', a group of mallees that all have adult leaves held erect, buds with a single unscarred operculum and pyramidal seeds.
Distribution and habitat
Stirling Range mallee grows in sandy-loamy-gravelly soils in open shrubland on hillslopes and sandplains in the Stirling Range.
Conservation status
''Eucalyptus erectifolia'' is classified as "
Priority Four" by the Government of Western Australia
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 ...
,
meaning that is rare or near threatened.
See also
*
List of ''Eucalyptus'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396510
Eucalypts of Western Australia
Trees of Australia
erectifolia
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1986
Taxa named by Ian Brooker
Taxa named by Stephen Hopper