Eucalyptus arenacea

Eucalyptus arenacea, commonly known as the desert stringybark[2] or sand stringybark,[3] is a tree or a mallee that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has rough bark to the thinnest branches, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, club-shaped flower buds arranged in groups of between seven and fifteen, white flowers and hemispherical to more or less spherical fruit.

flowers and buds
fruit

Desert stringybark
Eucalyptus arenacea in the Little Desert National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Eucalyptus
Species:
E. arenacea
Binomial name
Eucalyptus arenacea
Marginson & Ladiges[1]

Description

Eucalyptus arenacea is a tree with several to many stems or a robust mallee, grows to a height of 3–10 metres (10–30 ft) and forms a lignotuber. It has rough, fibrous and stringy bark on its trunk and to the thinnest branches. Leaves on young plants and on coppice regrowth are arranged in opposite pairs and are egg-shaped, 35–85 mm (1–3 in) long and 30–40 mm (1–2 in) wide. Adult leaves are shiny green, arranged alternately, lance-shaped or curved, 70–120 mm (3–5 in) long and 15–40 mm (0.6–2 in) wide on a petiole 10–25 mm (0.4–1 in) long. The flowers are borne in groups of between seven and fifteen in leaf axils on a peduncle 5–18 mm (0.20–0.71 in) long, the individual buds on a pedicel 2–5 mm (0.079–0.20 in) long. The mature buds are oval to club-shaped, 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) long and 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide with a rounded or conical operculum. Flowering mainly occurs between December and January and the flowers are white. The fruit is hemispherical to a truncated sphere, 4–9 mm (0.16–0.35 in) long and 7–12 mm (0.3–0.5 in) wide on a pedicel up to 3 mm (0.1 in) long.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy and naming

Eucalyptus arenacea was first formally described in 1988 by Julie Marginson and Pauline Ladiges and the description was published in Australian Systematic Botany.[5] The specific epithet (arenacea) is a Latin word meaning "of sand".[6]

Distribution and habitat

Desert stringybark grows on pale-coloured sandhills and on sandplains between Keith, Pinaroo and Bordertown in the Ninety Mile Desert in South Australia and in the Little Desert and Big Desert areas of Victoria.[3][4]

See also

References
  1. "Eucalyptus arenacea". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  2. Brooker, M. Ian; Slee, Andrew V. "Eucalyptus arenacea". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  3. Nicolle, Dean (2013). Native Eucalypts of South Australia. Adelaide: Dean Nicolle. pp. 210–211. ISBN 9780646904108.
  4. "Eucalyptus arenacea". Euclid: Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  5. "Eucalyptus arenacea". APNI. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  6. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 678.
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