Eucalyptus crucis

Silver mallee
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
Clade:Angiosperms
Clade:Eudicots
Clade:Rosids
Order:Myrtales
Family:Myrtaceae
Genus:Eucalyptus
Species: E. crucis
Binomial name
Eucalyptus crucis

Eucalyptus crucis, commonly known as the silver mallee, is a eucalypt that is native to Western Australia.[1]

Description

The mallee typically grows to a height of 2 to 15 metres (7 to 49 ft) and has red-brown-grey minni ritchi[1] type bark which curls and peels to expose lighter coloured bark underneath. It blooms between September and March producing white-cream flowers. The small tree with silvery coloured foliage and a multi-stemmed mallee habit. It grows to a width of 4 to 10 metres (13 to 33 ft).[2] The inflorescences have a capsular disc with a very incurved rim. The adult leaves are rather thick, very shortly petiolate, from lanceolate to nearly ovoid and ovoid-lanceolate in shape.[3] The leaves have a disjunct or opposite arrangement and are dull, glaucous and concolorous. Each simple axillary conflorescence has seven to eleven flowered umbellasters on terete peduncles. The buds have an ovoid shape with a calyx calyptrate that sheds early. The fruits that form later are hemispherical or conical with a raised disc raised and exserted valves.[4]

Distribution

It is found in an area in the Goldfields-Esperance and Wheatbelt region of Western Australia where it grows in sandy, clay or loam soils amongst granite outcrops.[1] The tree is associated with sheoak (Allocasuarina), wattle (Acacia) and One-sided Bottlebrush (Calothamnus).[3] It is frost and drought tolerant and is suitable for alkaline soils. Commonly used as a windbreak, street tree, decorative fruit, erosion control, honey producing plant and a bird nesting plant.[2]

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist Joseph Maiden in 1923 as part of the work A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus.[5] The type specimen was collected by Henry Steedman in 1922 from near Southern Cross.[4]

There are three known subspecies:

  • Eucalyptus crucis Maiden subsp. crucis, commonly known as the Southern Cross mallee[3]
  • Eucalyptus crucis subsp. lanceolata Brooker & Hopper (1982), commonly known as the narrow-leaved silver mallee
  • Eucalyptus crucis subsp. praecipua Brooker & Hopper (1993), commonly known as the Paynes Find mallee[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Eucalyptus crucis". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  2. 1 2 "Eucalyptus crucis – Silver Mallee". Gardening with Angus. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Approved Conservation Advice for Eucalyptus crucis subsp. crucis (Silver Mallee)" (PDF). Commonwealth of Australia. 16 December 2008. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Eucalyptus crucis". Eucalink. Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "Eucalyptus crucis Maiden". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
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