Eucalyptus uncinata - Flickr - Kevin Thiele

''Eucalyptus uncinata'', commonly known as the hook-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 the southwest of Western Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds arranged in groups of nine to thirteen, creamy white flowers and barrel-shaped to oval or cylindrical fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus uncinata'' 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 grey to light brown bark that is shed in short, curly strips, and sometimes a short stocking of fibrous bark near 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 leaves in opposite pairs joined at their bases, each half-leaf egg-shaped to round, long and wide. Adult leaves are the same shade of glossy green on both sides, narrow lance-shaped to lance-shaped, 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 nine, eleven or thirteen on a flattened, unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds

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 ...

or 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 spindle-shaped, and wide with a conical or rounded operculum about the same length as the floral cup. Flowering occurs between January and April and the flowers are creamy white. The fruit is a woody barrel-shaped, oval or cylindrical capsule and wide with the valves below rim level.

Taxonomy

''Eucalyptus uncinata'' was first formally described by the

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 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 ...

(''uncinata'') is from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''uncinatus'' meaning "barbed" or "hooked", referring to the fine tip of the leaves.

Distribution and habitat

Hook-leaved mallee is found on coastal and sub-coastal sand plains and low hills between

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, 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 ...

, Salmon Gums and

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 ...

, growing mostly in open shrubland. The species is associated with the western mallee subgroup which is characterised by several eucalypts including ''

Eucalyptus oleosa ''Eucalyptus oleosa'', commonly known as the red mallee, glossy-leaved red mallee, acorn mallee, oil mallee or giant mallee, is a tree or Mallee (habit), mallee that is native to Australia. The leaves were once harvested for the production of ...

'', '' Eucalyptus moderata'', ''

Eucalyptus incrassata ''Eucalyptus incrassata'', commonly known as the lerp mallee, yellow mallee, ridge fruited mallee or rib fruited mallee, is a species of Mallee (habit), mallee that is Endemism, endemic to southern Australia. It has smooth bark, sometimes with ...

'', ''

Eucalyptus foecunda ''Eucalyptus foecunda'', commonly known as narrow-leaved red mallee, Fremantle mallee or coastal dune mallee, is a species of plant in the Myrtaceae, myrtle family (biology), family that is endemism, endemic to Western Australia. It has rough bar ...

'', ''

Eucalyptus redunca ''Eucalyptus redunca'', commonly known as black marlock, is a species of mallee or a shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between nine and fifteen, lemon-coloured flo ...

'' and ''

Eucalyptus eremophila ''Eucalyptus eremophila'', commonly known as the sand mallet or tall sand mallee, is a species of Mallet (habit), mallet that is Endemism, endemic to semi-arid regions of Western Australia. It has smooth pale brown and greyish bark, narrow lance- ...

''. The understorey is predominantly shrubby with species of ''

Melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles, bottlebrushes or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They ...

'' and ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

'' along with the occasional '' Triodia''.

Conservation status

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

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15356521 uncinata Endemic flora of Western Australia Mallees (habit) Myrtales of Australia Eucalypts of Western Australia Goldfields–Esperance Great Southern (Western Australia) Wheatbelt (Western Australia) Plants described in 1849 Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution and habitat

Conservation status

See also

References