''Eucalyptus pauciflora'' subsp. ''hedraia'', commonly known as snow gum, is a mallee or small tree 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 a small area of Victoria, Australia. It has smooth bark, branchlets that are often

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), ...

, glossy green lance-shaped to egg-shaped or elliptical adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between eleven and fifteen, white flowers and hemispherical or cup-shaped fruit. It differs from other subspecies of ''E. pauciflora'' in having larger,

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 ...

, glaucous buds and broader, hemispherical fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus pauciflora'' subsp. ''hedraia'' is a mallee or tree 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, grey, pale brown and green bark that usually has insect scribbles. 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 dull bluish green to glaucous, egg-shaped, oblong to round leaves that are long and wide and petiolate. Adult leaves are the same shade of glossy green on both sides, broadly lance-shaped to egg-shaped, elliptical or curved, long and wide on 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 in groups of between eleven and fifteen on an unbranched peduncle up to long, the individual buds usually sessile or rarely 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 ...

up to long. Mature buds are oval to club-shaped, long and wide with a conical to rounded operculum. Flowering has been recorded in December and January and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, broadly hemispherical or cup-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level. Subspecies ''hedraia'' differs from others in the species in having glaucous flower buds and broader, hemispherical fruit.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus pauciflora'' subsp. ''hedraia'' was first formally described in 1994 by

Kevin James Rule Kevin James Rule was born at Daylesford, Victoria on 9 November 1941. He was a secondary school teacher and had a particular interest in the taxonomy of Australian eucalyptus. He discovered several new species in Victoria. He is an honorary as ...

in the journal '' Muelleria'', from material collected in the Falls Creek Ski Village in 1982. The

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

(''hedraia'') 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 ...

, referring to the sessile buds and fruits.

Distribution

This subspecies is only known from the Falls Creek Ski Village area.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q66104206 pauciflora Flora of Victoria (state) Plants described in 1994