''Eucalyptus imlayensis'', commonly known as the Mount Imlay mallee, is a species of small, straggly 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 the far south east of New South Wales, only occurring near the summit of Mount Imlay. It has mostly smooth bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three, white flowers and cup-shaped, bell-shaped or hemispherical fruit. Eucalyptus imlayensis buds

Description

''Eucalyptus imlayensis'' is a mallee 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 bark that is shed in ribbons, curling over near the base. The bark is green when fresh, ageing to orange, brown then grey. 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 stems that are more or less square in cross-section with wings on the corners. Juvenile leaves are mostly arranged in opposite pairs,

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 ...

, elliptic to egg-shaped, long and wide. Adult leaves are quite thick, veiny, lance-shaped or curved, the same glossy green on both sides, 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 leaf axils in groups of three on an unbranched peduncle long, the buds sessile. Mature buds are oval, long and wide with a conical to slightly beaked operculum. The fruit is a woody cup-shaped, bell-shaped or hemispherical capsule long and wide and sessile with a prominent disc and the valves protruding beyond the rim of the fruit.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus imlayensis'' was first formally described in 1980 by

Michael Crisp Michael Douglas Crisp (born 1950) is an emeritus professor in the Research School of Biology at the Australian National University located in Canberra. In 1976, he gained a PhD from the University of Adelaide, studying long-term vegetation chan ...

and

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 ...

from a specimen collected on Mount Imlay in 1978 and the description was published in the journal '' Telopea''. The specific epithet ''imlayensis'' is from 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. * ...

location on Mount Imlay. This eucalypt is placed in the subgenus ''Symphyomyrtus'', section ''Maidenaria'', along with '' E. johnstonii'', '' E. subcrenulata'' and '' E. vernicosa''.

Distribution and habitat

The Mount Imlay mallee grows in mossy shrubland dominated by tea tree on a steep

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...

outcrop and is only known from the

Mount Imlay National Park Mount Imlay is a national park in New South Wales (Australia), 387 km south of Sydney, named after George Imlay, the Imlay brothers, who were early pioneers to the district. It is accessed from the Princes Highway, south of Eden, New South ...

. Other nearby species include the rare Imlay boronia, devil's twine, digger's speedwell, Tasmanian flax-lily, rasp fern, spiny-head mat-rush, scented paperbark, common shaggy pea and blotchy mint-bush. The ground layer is dominated by mosses. The soils are poor in nutrient, based from

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

and conglomerate rocks.(other publication details, included in citation)
(NOTE: this is a description of the rocks at the rainforest, 250 metres to the south)

Conservation status

''Eucalyptus imlayensis'' 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 "critically endangered" under the New South Wales Government ''

Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 The ''Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act)'' was enacted by the Parliament of New South Wales in 1995 to protect threatened species, populations and ecological communities in NSW. In 2016 it was replaced by the '' Biodiversity Con ...

''. The main threats to the species are its small population size in a single location, damage by gall-forming

psyllids Psyllidae, the jumping plant lice or psyllids, are a Family (biology), family of small plant-feeding insects that tend to be very host-specific, i.e. each plant-louse species only feeds on one plant species (monophagous) or feeds on a few closel ...

and lack of seedling recruitment. Dieback caused by the fungus ''

Phytophthora cinnamomi ''Phytophthora cinnamomi'', also known as cinnamon fungus, is a soil-borne water mould that produces an infection which causes a condition in plants variously called "dieback", "root rot", or (in certain '' Castanea'' species), "ink disease". O ...

'' and habitat modification caused by fire are potential threats. The population of mature trees was estimated to be about 80 in 2007. File:Eucalyptus imlayensis with creeper.JPG, Imlay Mallee with Devil's Twine File:Eucalyptus imlayensis Healthy.JPG, Imlay Mallee File:Eucalyptus imlayensis base.JPG, base of an Imlay Mallee File:Mt Imlay Mossy Ground.JPG, Mossy ground near the Imlay Mallee

References and further reading

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eucalyptus Imlayensis imlayensis Flora of New South Wales Mallees (habit) Myrtales of Australia Trees of Australia Critically endangered flora of Australia Taxa named by Ian Brooker Plants described in 1980 Taxa named by Michael Crisp