Eucalyptus astringens
| Brown mallet | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Eucalyptus |
| Species: | E. astringens |
| Binomial name | |
| Eucalyptus astringens | |
Eucalyptus astringens, commonly known as brown mallet, is a tree that is endemic to the South West region of Western Australia.[1] The Noongar peoples know the tree as mallat, woonert or wurnert.[2]
Description
The tree typically grows to a height of 1.5 to 15 metres (5 to 49 ft) and can get to 24 m (79 ft) tall. It has smooth grey-brown coloured bark that peels from the trunk and branches. It blooms from August to December and produces white cream to yellow flowers.[1] At breast height the truck has a diameter of around 7 m (23 ft). It is drought tolerant and grows in areas with rainfall of 300 to 400 millimetres (11.8 to 15.7 in) per year.[3] The concolorous, glossy, green adult leaves have an alternate arrangement. The leaf blade has a lanceolate shape and are 6 to 14 centimetres (2 to 6 in) long and 1 to 3.5 centimetres (0.4 to 1.4 in) wide. The unbranched inflorescences have an axillary arrangement. Each inflorescence is seven-flowered with flattened peduncles around 3.4 cm (1.3 in) flattened. The buds are pedicellate with a stubby to elongated shape. The fruits that form later are pedicellate and cupular to campanulate. Each fruit is around 1.2 cm (0.5 in) with a diameter of around 1 cm (0.4 in). They each have a level to descending disc with three or four valves containing grey-black seeds with an ovoid to flattened-ovoid shape.[4]
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by the botanist Joseph Maiden in 1924 as part of the work A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus.[5]
There are two subspecies:
- Eucalyptus astringens subsp. astringens
- Eucalyptus astringens subsp. redacta[6]
Distribution
It is commonly found on rocky outcrops, ridges, breakaways, hills and on valley floors in the southern Wheatbelt, Great Southern and south west Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia. It grows in red-brown gravelly clay, brown clayey sand, sandy loam, spongolite, laterite and sandstone based soils.[1]
It is commonly associated with E. wandoo making up the overstorey, especially when E. wandoo woodland is an adjacent community. Understorey species often include occasional Santalum acuminatum and Melaleuca scalena, and a sparse ground cover of common grasses and herbs such as Thysanotus patersonii, Trachymene pilosa, Pterostylis sanguineus, Austrostipa elegantissima, Austrodanthonia setacea group and Lomandra micrantha subsp. micrantha.[7]
E. astringens has become naturalised in Bacchus Marsh, north of Melbourne, in Victoria, where it had been used to stabilise soils.[4]
Uses
The wood from the tree is used for construction, mining timbers and for tool handles. It is also a good firewood. The bark contains around 40% tannin and could possibly be used for tanning leather and production of adhesives.[3] Around 8,000 hectares (19,768 acres) of the tree have been planted around Narrogin in plantations for timber production.[3]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 "Eucalyptus astringens". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
- ↑ "Noongar names for plants". kippleonline.net. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- 1 2 3 "Brown mallet Eucalyptus astringens". Forest Products Commission. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
- 1 2 "Eucalyptus astringens (Maiden) Maiden Brown Mallet". Vicflora. Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
- ↑ "Eucalyptus astringens (Maiden) Maiden". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
- ↑ "Eucalyptus astringens subsp. redacta". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
- ↑ "Eucalyptus astringens (brown mallet) woodland". Wheatbelt woodlands. Retrieved 13 November 2016.