20230121 081705 Eucalyptus ochrophloia - yapunyah

''Eucalyptus ochrophloia'', commonly known as the yapunyah, is a species of eucalypt native to inland New South Wales and Queensland in eastern Australia.

Description

The tree typically grows to a height of but can reah as high as 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 rough and tessellated or box-type bark on lower end of the trunk. The older bark is dark grey to black that becomes smooth, grey to coppery, pink, yellow or brown higher up. The concolorous, glossy, green adult leaves are alternately arranged forming a loose canopy. The leaf blade is a

lanceolate The following terms are used to describe leaf plant morphology, morphology in the description and taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade ...

shape with a length of and a width of with a base that tapers to the

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 ...

. It blooms between May and November producing terminal compound

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 branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s with seven buds per umbel. The elongated, curved, oblong to fusiform mature buds are in length and . The green to yellow buds have so scarring and are ribbed longitudinally with a conical to pyramidal shaped operculum with inflexed stamens and white flowers. The fruits that form afterward are cylindrical to barrel-shaped with a length of and a width of with a descending disc and three or four valves. The brown seeds within the fruit have a flattened ovoid shape and a length of .

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...

in 1878 as part of the work ''

Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae ''Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae'' is a series of papers written by the Victorian Government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in which he published many of his approximately 2000 descriptions of new taxa of Australian plants. Including the p ...

''. 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 ...

is from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''ochro-'' meaning ''pale yellow'' and ''phloios'' meaning ''bark'' in reference to the pale colour of the upper smooth bark.

Distribution and ecology

The tree has a scattered distribution through north western New South Wales and south western Queensland. In New South Wales it is found east of White Cliffs and north of the

Paroo River The Paroo River, a series of waterholes, connected in wet weather as a running stream of the Darling catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the South West region of Queensland and Far West region of New South Wales, Aust ...

where it is occurs frequently but in scattered populations, as part of the overstorey in grassy woodland communities growing along broad flat seasonal rivers and creeks in heavy calcareous soils. Associated species in the overstorey include; ''

Eucalyptus largiflorens ''Eucalyptus largiflorens'', or black box or river box, is a tree that is endemic to Australia. It has rough, fibrous or flaky bark, dull greenish-grey, lance-shaped leaves, oval to club-shaped green to yellow flower buds, white flowers and hemi ...

'' and ''

Eucalyptus coolabah ''Eucalyptus coolabah'', commonly known as coolibah or coolabah, is a species of tree found in eastern inland Australia. It has rough bark on part or all of the trunk, smooth powdery cream to pink bark above, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, ...

'' while the understorey species include; ''

Acacia stenophylla ''Acacia stenophylla'', commonly referred to as the shoestring acacia, is an evergreen tree in the family Fabaceae and native to Australia. It is not considered rare or endangered. Description ''Acacia stenophylla'' varies in characteristic and ...

'' and '' Eremophila bignoniflora'' along with ''

Muehlenbeckia florulenta ''Duma florulenta'' (synonym ''Muehlenbeckia florulenta''), commonly known as tangled lignum or often simply lignum, is a plant native to inland Australia. It is associated with wetland habitats, especially those in arid and semiarid regions su ...

''. In more arid woodland areas the tree is associated with ''

Acacia cambagei ''Acacia cambagei'', commonly known as gidgee, gidyea, gidya, gidgea or stinking wattle is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to north-eastern Australia. It is a spreading, foul-smelling tree with narrowly elli ...

'', ''

Eremophila mitchellii ''Eremophila mitchellii'', known commonly as false sandalwood and several other names, is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a glabrous large shrub or small tree with flaky bark, white or ...

'', ''

Eremophila maculata ''Eremophila maculata'', also known as spotted emu bush or spotted fuchsia-bush, is a plant in the figwort Family (biology), family Scrophulariaceae, and is Endemism, endemic to Australia. It is the most widespread of its genus in nature and pro ...

'', '' Aristida latifolia'', ''

Astrebla lappacea ''Astrebla lappacea'', commonly known as curly Mitchell grass, is a herb of the family Poaceae from the order Poales. It grows to tall. Named in honour of Thomas Mitchell, the Latin specific epithet of ''lappacea'' is derived from ''lappa'' mea ...

'' and '' Chloris pectinata''.

Uses

The tree is used by

apiarist A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees, a profession known as beekeeping. The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees in beehives, boxes, or other receptacles. The beekeeper does not control the creatures. The beekeeper o ...

s for honey production as the tree produces nectar in winter when few other plants are in flower. It is also an important food source for native birds particularly the

Pied Honeyeater The pied honeyeater (''Certhionyx variegatus'') is a species of bird in the family of honeyeaters Meliphagidae and the sole species in the genus ''Certhionyx'' (Christidis & Boles 2008). This species is also known as the black and white honeyeate ...

. The wood from the tree is suitable for fuel, fencing and as a heavy construction timber. It is a good shade tree for stock and the leaves can be used as fodder.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5405646 ochrophloia Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Drought-tolerant trees Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1878 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller