''Eucalyptus orbifolia'', commonly known as round-leaved mallee, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae (), the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All ...

and 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 inland Australia. It is a tree or mallee with rough bark, oval leaves, yellow flowers and conical fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus orbifolia'' is a mallee or tree that typically grows to a height of . The tree produces showy cream-yellow flowers predominantly between mid-winter and late spring from July to November. It has rough

minni ritchi Minni ritchi bark on an acacia in the Pilbara region of Western Australia Minni ritchi bark of ''Eucalyptus crucis'' near Wongan Hills Minni ritchi is a type of reddish-brown bark that continuously peels in small curly flakes, leaving the tr ...

bark on the trunk. Like most mallees it has multiple stems. The bark is reddish brown in colour and which peels and curls outwards, exposing paler white-grey bark below. The grey-green, oval-shaped adult leaves are in length and wide. Each inflorescence is in diameter.

Taxonomy

''Eucalyptus orbifolia'' was first formally described in 1859 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...

in ''

Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae ''Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae'' is a series of papers written by the Victorian Government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in which he published many of his approximately 2000 descriptions of new taxa of Australian plants. Including the p ...

'' from specimens collected by Charles Harper. The name is sometimes misapplied to '' Eucalyptus websteriana'' described by

Joseph Maiden Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus ''Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing ...

in 1916 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 ...

(''orbifolia'') is from Latin meaning "round" and "-leaved".

Distribution

It is found amongst

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

outcrops and on slopes and ridges in the

Mid West The Mid West region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is a sparsely populated region extending from the west coast of Western Australia, about north and south of its administrative centre of Geraldton and inland to east of W ...

, Wheatbelt and Goldfields regions of Western Australia between

Mount Magnet Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...

, Mukinbudin and

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

where it grows in shallow gravelly red sandy or sandy-clay soils. The range extends into central Australia west of

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and northern

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

Use in horticulture

The mallee is sold as seed or as seedlings. It will grow well in a full sun position and is

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

and

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...

tolerant when established. Suitable as an ornamental or as a light screen, it also attracts native birds. The seeds propagate easily and it can be grown in a large container.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5405659 orbifolia Eucalypts of Western Australia Trees of Australia Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1859 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution

Use in horticulture

See also

References