''Eucalyptus multicaulis'', commonly known as the whipstick mallee ash, 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 New South Wales. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, oval to club-shaped flower buds in groups of between seven and fifteen, white flowers and conical fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus multicaulis'' 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 white or grey bark, sometimes with rough bark near the base of the trunks. 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 broadly egg-shaped, bluish or greyish green leaves that are long and wide with a short

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 ...

. Adult leaves are lance-shaped or curved, the same shade of glossy green on both sides, long and wide tapering to a petiole 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 on an unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the 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 branch ...

long. Mature buds are oval to club-shaped, long and about wide with a rounded operculum. Flowering occurs from September to November and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody conical capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level or slightly below it.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus multicaulis'' was first formally described in 1927 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 ...

in the '' Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales''. 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 ...

is 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 ...

''multi-'' meaning "many" and ''caulis'' meaning "stem", referring to the mallee habit of this species.

Distribution and habitat

Whipstick mallee ash grows on sandstone ridges in mallee shrubland from east of

Rylstone Rylstone is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated very near to Cracoe and about south west of Grassington. The population of the civil parish as of the 2001 census was 122, and had risen to 160 ...

to the

Budawangs The Budawang Range, commonly called The Budawangs, a rugged mountain range within the Budawang National Park and the Morton National Park, are part of a spur off the Great Dividing Range and are located in the South Coast region of New South ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eucalyptus Multicaulis multicaulis Myrtales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Mallees (habit) Plants described in 1927 Taxa named by William Blakely