''Eucalyptus pluricaulis'', commonly known as the purple-leaved mallee, 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 Western Australia. It has smooth bark, dull bluish green, lance-shaped leaves, flower buds in groups of between nine and fifteen, pale yellow flowers and cylindrical to barrel-shaped fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus pluricaulis'' 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, greyish bark that is copper-coloured when new. Adult leaves are the same shade of dull bluish green on both sides, long and wide tapering to 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 between nine and fifteen 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 ...

up to long. Mature buds are an elongated spindle shape, long and wide with a horn-shaped operculum that is three or four times as long as the floral cup. Flowering occurs from March to September and the flowers are pale yellow. The fruit is a woody, cylindrical to barrel-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level.

Taxonomy

''Eucalyptus pluricaulis'' was first formally described in 1991 by

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 ...

and

Stephen Hopper Stephen Donald Hopper (born 18 June 1951) is a Western Australian botanist. He graduated in Biology, specialising in conservation biology and vascular plants. Hopper has written eight books, and has over 200 publications to his name. He was Direc ...

in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'' from specimens Brooker collected near the Coorow-Greenhead Road in 1982. 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 ...

(''pluricaulis'') is from the Latin ''plus, pluris'' meaning "more" or "several" and ''caulis'' meaning "stem", referring to the mallee habit of this eucalypt. In the same journal, Brooker and Hopper described two subspecies and the names have been accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Sys ...

: * ''Eucalyptus pluricaulis'' Brooker & Hopper subsp. ''pluricaulis'' is an erect mallee with bluish green leaves and up to eleven buds in each group; *''Eucalyptus pluricaulis'' subsp. ''prophyrea'' Brooker & Hopper is a low, straggly mallee with purplish leaves and up to fifteen flowers in each group.

Distribution and habitat

Subspecies ''pluricaulis'' grows in tall mallee, often on slopes near breakaways and is found from near Three Springs and the

Lesueur National Park Lesueur National Park is a national park straddling the boundary between the Wheatbelt and Mid West regions of Western Australia, 211 km north of Perth. The park was gazetted in 1992. It includes two mesas known as Mount Lesueur and Moun ...

Southern Cross CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system to ...

and Ravensthorpe. Subspecies ''porphyrea'' grows in mallee between

Tarin Rock Tarin Rock () is a locality, railway siding and rock formation on the Wagin to Lake Grace branch line, located approximately 18 km east of Kukerin in Western Australia. Tarin Rock was a stop on the Wagin to Newdegate railway line. The s ...

, the

Fitzgerald River National Park Fitzgerald River National Park is a national park in the Shire of Ravensthorpe, Shires of Ravensthorpe and the Shire of Jerramungup in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is recognised on National Heritage List (Australia), Austral ...

and the

Stirling Range The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranbro ...

Conservation status

Both subspecies of this mallee eucalypt are classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and en ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15354589 Eucalypts of Western Australia Trees of Australia pluricaulis Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1991 Taxa named by Ian Brooker Taxa named by Stephen Hopper

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution and habitat

Conservation status

See also

References