A gimlet is one of nine species of

eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', '' Corymbia'', '' Angophora'', '' Stockwellia'', '' Allo ...

in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of Flowering plant, flowering trees, shrubs or Mallee (habit), mallees in the Myrtaceae, myrtle Family (biology), family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the Tribe (biology) ...

'', series ''Contortae''. These species are mainly characterised by having smooth, shiny,

fluted Fluting may refer to: * Fluting (architecture) * Fluting (firearms) *Fluting (geology) * Fluting (glacial) *Fluting (paper) Arts, entertainment, and media *Fluting on the Hump See also *Flute (disambiguation) A flute is a musical instrument. ...

trunks. The most widely distributed of the gimlets, is '' E. salubris'' which is found throughout the south-west of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

, other than in coastal areas and wet forests. The other eight species have a narrower distribution in the Goldfields-Esperance region. The only gimlet that is a mallee is '' E. effusa'' which 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 response t ...

from which it can resprout after fire. The other eight gimlets are

mallets A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and propor ...

, do not form a lignotuber, are killed by fire and regenerate from seed. These species are '' E. campaspe'', '' E. creta'', '' E. diptera'', '' E. jimberlanica'', '' E. ravida'', '' E. terebra'', ''E. salubris'' and '' E. tortilis''.

References

{{Eucalyptus-stub Eucalyptus Plant common names