''Eucalyptus pachyphylla'', commonly known as thick-leaved mallee or the red-budded mallee, is a species of mallee that is native to inland Australia. It has smooth bark, egg-shaped to lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three with five prominent ribs on each bud, and broad, shallow, conical to hemispherical fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus pachyphylla'' is a mallee that typically grows to a height of , sometimes as high as , 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 a smooth textured white, grey, grey brown, grey-pink or brown bark that is sheds in loose ribbons at the base. 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 coarse, dull greyish green, egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves that are up to long and wide. Adult leaves are the same shade of green on both sides, thick, egg-shaped to lance-shaped, 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

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 three 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, long and wide, with five prominent, thin ribs along the sides and a beaked operculum long. The buds are pinkish near flowering time. Flowering occurs between April and July and the flowers are creamy yellow. The fruit is a woody, broad, shallow conical to hemispherical capsule long and wide including the ribs, and the valves protrude above the rim of the fruit.

Taxonomy

''Eucalyptus pachyphylla'' 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 the '' Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany''. 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 ...

(''pachyphylla'') is from

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

meaning "thick-leaved". The name of his species is often misapplied to ''Eucalyptus alatissima''.

Distribution and habitat

Thick-leaved mallee is often found on sand dunes and sand plains as well as rocky slopes and grows in red sandy soils. In

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

it is found throughout much of the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

and Goldfields-Esperance regions. It is also found 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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

Use in horticulture

It is sold commercially and can be used as an ornamental plant, informal screen or windbreak and will attract birds. It is best grown in a position in full sun. It can tolerate drought and moderate frosts.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15354119 Eucalypts of Western Australia Flora of South Australia Flora of Queensland Flora of the Northern Territory pachyphylla Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1859 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution and habitat

Use in horticulture

See also

References