Eucalyptus creta

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.

Large-fruited gimlet

Priority Three — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Eucalyptus
Species:
E. creta
Binomial name
Eucalyptus creta

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]

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See also

References
  1. "Eucalyptus creta". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  2. "Eucalyptus creta". Euclid: Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  3. "Eucalyptus creta". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  4. 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. Archer, William. "Eucalyptus creta - large fruited gimlet". Esperance Wildflowers. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  6. "Eucalyptus creta". APNI. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  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" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
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