Eucalyptus kingsmillii

The mallee typically grows to a height of 1.5 to 8 metres (5 to 26 ft) that has rough fibrous bark on the trunk with smooth bark above. It produces white-cream to red-pink flowers between April and October.[1] The flower buds and fruits are large and ribbed or “winged” and are found in pendulous groups of three.[2] It has variable form ranging from a small compact shrub-like habit to a taller more irregular habit. The flowers are highly decorative usually with pink-red buds that open to cream-yellow flowers that are around 3 centimetres (1.2 in) across.[3] The dull, grey-green, thick and concolorous adult leaves have a disjunct arrangement. The leaf blade has a narrow lanceolate to broad lanceolate and is basally tapered. The buds are globose and rostrate, with a calyx calyptrate that sheds early. The fruits are hemispherical with a raised disc and exserted valves.[4][5]

The species is grown in gardens and is drought tolerant but can be susceptible to scale.[3]

The species was first formally described by the botanist Joseph Maiden in 1929 as part of the work A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus.[6] The name of the species, kingsmillii, honours Walter Kingsmill, who was a Western Australian politician active in forestry matters. He collected the type specimen of the showy mallee in 1918 from an area north of Leonora[3] close to the Mount Keith minesite.[4]

It is found on rocky rises and sand plains in inland areas of the Pilbara, Mid West and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia where it grows in thin sandy soils over sandstone or ironstone[1] with a range that extends to north western South Australia.[2]

• List of Eucalyptus species