''Eucalyptus preissiana'', commonly known as bell-fruited mallee, is a species of small tree or shrub that occurs in an area between Albany and Esperance 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 has a spreading habit, smooth bark, elliptical to egg-shaped or oblong leaves, flower buds in groups of three, yellow flowers and cup-shaped, conical or bell-shaped fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus preissiana'' is a mallee that typically grows to a height of with a sprawling habit, 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 and brown bark. 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 stems that are square in cross-section and elliptical to egg-shaped leaves that are the greyish green, long, wide and arranged in opposite pairs. Adult leaves are sometimes arranged alternately, the same shade of dull greyish green on both sides, elliptical to egg-shaped or oblong, 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 on a flattened, 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 a conical to rounded operculum. Flowering occurs from September to November and the flowers are yellow. The fruit is a woody, cup-shaped, conical or bell-shaped capsule long and wide with lobes between the valves.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus preissiana'' was first formally described in 1844 by the

Johannes Conrad Schauer Johannes Conrad Schauer (16 February 1813 – 24 October 1848) was a botanist interested in spermatophytes. He was born in Frankfurt am Main and attended the gymnasium of Mainz from 1825 to 1837. For the next three years he worked at the Hofgar ...

and the description was published in Lehmann's book ''Plantae Preissianae''. 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 ...

honours

Ludwig Preiss Johann August Ludwig Preiss (21 November 1811 – 21 May 1883) was a German-born British botanist and zoologist. Early life Preiss was born in Herzberg am Harz. He obtained a doctorate, probably at Hamburg, then emigrated to Western Australia. ...

who collected the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

specimen near

Cape Riche Cape Riche is a cape in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. By road, it is south-east of Perth and north-east of Albany. It is part of the locality of Wellstead and is south of the townsite. Facilities in the area include a bo ...

in 1840. In 1995

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

Andrew Slee Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

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 preissiana'' subsp. ''lobata'' Brooker & Slee differs from subspecies ''preissiana'' in having large lobes between the valves of the fruit; * ''Eucalyptus preissiana'' Schauer subsp. ''preissiana'' has fruit that lack lobes or have small lobes below the rim of the fruit.

Distribution

Bell-fruited mallee is found in coastal and sub-coastal areas among

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

and

laterite Laterite is a soil type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolo ...

and grows in gravelly sandy-clay soils. It occurs in coastal and near-coastal areas from 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 ...

to 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 almost to Esperance to the east. Subspecies ''lobata'' only occurs in coastal areas in a few places between Esperance and Hopetoun.

Conservation status

Subspecies ''preissiana'' is 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 ...

, but subspecies ''lobata'' is classified as " Priority Four" by the Government of Western Australia

, meaning that is rare or near threatened.

Use in horticulture

Bell-fruited mallee can be cultivated in temperate areas of Australia but performs poorly in tropical environments. It is propagated from seeds and germinates easily. It prefers a position in full sun and in well-drained soils.

References