Biology:Eucalyptus creta

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Short description: Species of eucalyptus

Large-fruited gimlet

Priority Three — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC)
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Eucalyptus
Species:
E. creta
Binomial name
Eucalyptus creta
L.A.S.Johnson & K.D.Hill[1]

Eucalyptus creta, commonly known as the large-fruited gimlet,[2] is a species of mallet or tree that is endemic to Western Australia. It has smooth, shiny bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three in leaf axils, relatively large white to creamy yellow flowers, and broadly hemispherical to bell-shaped fruit.

Description

Eucalyptus creta is a mallet or tree that typically grows to a height of 3–15 m (9.8–49.2 ft) but does not form a lignotuber. It has smooth, shiny, yellowish, greenish or brownish to copper-coloured bark. Adult leaves are narrow lance-shaped, the same glossy green on both sides, 55–132 mm (2.2–5.2 in) long and 12–35 mm (0.47–1.38 in) wide on a petiole 8–18 mm (0.31–0.71 in) long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of three in leaf axils on a peduncle 1–3 mm (0.039–0.118 in) long, the individual buds sessile. Mature buds are oval, 15–22 mm (0.59–0.87 in) long and 14–20 mm (0.55–0.79 in) wide with a wing on two sides of the floral cup and a beaked operculum. Flowering occurs in May and the flowers are white to creamy yellow. The fruit is a woody, hemispherical to shallow cup-shaped capsule with two wings along the sides and the valves at the same level as the rim or extended beyond it.[2][3][4][5]

Taxonomy and naming

Eucalyptus creta was first formally described in 1991 by Lawrie Johnson and Ken Hill from a specimen collected north of Mount Ney, north-east of Esperance.[4][6] The specific epithet (creta) is a Latin word meaning "grow" or "increase",[7] "referring to the buds, flowers and fruit".[4]

Distribution and habitat

Large-fruited gimlet is locally common in a restricted area north-east of Esperance in the Esperance Plains and Mallee biogeographic regions, where it grows on calcareous plains in sandy loam or clay with little understorey vegetation.[3][5]

Conservation status

This eucalypt is classified as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife[3] meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.[8]

See also

References

  1. "Eucalyptus creta". Australian Plant Census. https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/118627. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Eucalyptus creta". Euclid: Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research. https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/eucalyptus_creta.htm. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Eucalyptus creta". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife. https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/12374. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Johnson, Lawrence A.S.; Hill, Kenneth D. (1 March 1991). "Systematic studies in the eucalypts - 2. A revision of the gimlets and related species: Eucalyptus extracodical series Salubres and Annulatae (Myrtaceae)". Telopea 4 (2): 213–215. doi:10.7751/telopea19914927. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 Archer, William. "Eucalyptus creta - large fruited gimlet". Esperance Wildflowers. http://esperancewildflowers.blogspot.com/2011/08/eucalyptus-creta-large-fruited-gimlet.html. 
  6. "Eucalyptus creta". APNI. https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/456233. 
  7. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 384. 
  8. "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna". Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. https://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/images/documents/plants-animals/threatened-species/Listings/Conservation%20code%20definitions.pdf. 

Wikidata ☰ Q15395980 entry