''Eucalyptus tetraptera'', commonly known as square-fruited mallee or four-winged mallee,Chippendale, G.M. (1973) ''Eucalypts of the Western Australian goldfields (and the adjacent wheatbelt)'', Canberra. AGPS p.175 is a 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 the south coast of

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 smooth bark, thick lance-shaped to oblong adult leaves, single flower buds 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, red to pink flowers and square, prominently winged fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus tetraptera'' is low, straggly mallee that typically grows to a height of and a similar width. It usually has a single low branching trunk with smooth, grey or whitish-grey 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 egg-shaped to broadly elliptical leaves that are long and wide and petiolate. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same shade of glossy green on both sides, thick, lance-shaped to oblong, long and wide, the base tapering to a narrowly flattened petiole long. The flower buds are arranged singly in leaf

s on a rigidly down-turned peduncle long, the peduncle often wider than long. Mature buds are cubic with broad, curved wings, long and wide with a pyramid-shaped operculum long. Flowering occurs from late winter to mid summer and the flowers are red to pink. The fruit is a woody, red, sessile, oblong capsule, long and wide including the wings on each corner.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus tetraptera'' was first formally described by the Russian

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Nikolai Turczaninow Nikolai Stepanovich Turczaninow (; 1796 – ) was a Russian botanist and plant collector who first identified several genera and many species of plants. Education and career Born in 1796, Turczaninow attended high school in Kharkov. In 181 ...

in 1849 in the journal, ''Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou'' from specimens collected in 1848 by James Drummond. 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 ...

(''tetraptera'') 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 ...

words meaning "four" and "winged" referring to the fruit of this species.

Distribution and habitat

The distribution of the square-fruited mallee is limited to coastal sandplains where it is also found among

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 of southern

, north from the Stirling Ranges and south to around Albany east to

Israelite Bay Israelite Bay is a bay and locality of the Shire of Esperance in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, located along the Southern Ocean. Except for a small strip in the north-west of the locality, Israelite Bay is completely take ...

in the Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions where it grows in white or grey sandy soils in heath.

Conservation status

This eucalypt is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.

Uses

''E. tetraptera'' is one of the most bizarre of the eucalypts with its spectacular, large, red buds and fruit. A popular ornamental, it grows well in full sun in semi-arid climates but is slower growing in cooler climates. It is

smog Smog, or smoke fog, is a type of intense air pollution. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century, and is a portmanteau of the words ''smoke'' and ''fog'' to refer to smoky fog due to its opacity, and odour. The word was then inte ...

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 ...

resistant and can be kept in containers. As the plant becomes straggly with age it can be cut back to ground level to rejuvenate. The plant is commercially available as seedlings or as seeds. As for most Eucalypts, the seeds will germinate readily.

References