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Eucalyptus eudesmioides, commonly known as mallalie,[2] desert gum or mallabie[3] is a species of mallee that is endemic to Western Australia. It is a rounded, bushy mallee with smooth bark, egg-shaped to heart-shaped leaves arranged in opposite pairs, club-shaped flower buds arranged in groups of three, whitish flowers and cylindrical to barrel-shaped fruit.

Mallalie
Eucalyptus eudesmioides growing near Eurardy
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Myrtales
Family:	Myrtaceae
Genus:	Eucalyptus
Species:	E. eudesmioides
Binomial name
Eucalyptus eudesmioides F. Muell.[1]

Description

Eucalyptus eudesmioides is a mallee, sometimes a tree, that typically grows to 2–8 m (6 ft 7 in – 26 ft 3 in) high, occasionally up to 10 m (33 ft) but usually less than 4 m (13 ft), and forms a lignotuber. It usually has smooth white to grey or brownish bark, sometimes with a rough, fibrous grey to brown bark near the base of the trunk. Young plants and coppice regrowth have sessile, egg-shaped to heart-shaped leaves arranged in opposite pairs and 25–75 mm (0.98–2.95 in) long, 10–35 mm (0.39–1.38 in) wide. Adult leaves are also arranged in opposite pairs and are lance-shaped to curved, 40–80 mm (1.6–3.1 in) long and 6–15 mm (0.24–0.59 in) wide on a petiole 3–10 mm (0.12–0.39 in) long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of three on a peduncle 3–13 mm (0.12–0.51 in) long, the individual buds on a pedicel 3–7 mm (0.12–0.28 in) long. Mature buds are club-shaped, 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) long and 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) wide with a rounded to flattened operculum, the stamens in bundles. Flowering occurs from February to May and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, cylindrical to barrel-shaped capsule 7–13 mm (0.28–0.51 in) long and 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) wide with the valves at or near the level of the rim.[2][4][5][6]

Taxonomy and naming

Eucalyptus eudesmioides was first formally described in 1860 by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller, initially as Eucalyptus eudesmoides in his book Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae.[7] The original name is an orthographical variant of E. eudesmioides.[8]

The specific epithet (eudesmioides) is a reference to the Eucalyptus subgenus Eudesmia.[5] The ending -oides is a Latin suffix meaning "likeness".[9]

Mallalie is the Noongar name for the species.[10]

Distribution and habitat

Mallalie occurs coastally and subcoastally from 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Perth northwards to the Murchison River.[4] The range extends from Carnarvon in the Gascoyne south to Wongan Hills in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.[2] It grows in sandy soil on flat or low sloping areas in mallee woodland. It is one of the eucalypts identified in the Eurardy Reserve, a reserve that was established as a bush heritage property in 2011.[11]

Two subspecies, not yet formally described, are recognised by the Australian Plant Census:

• Eucalyptus eudesmioides subsp. Pallida;[12]
• Eucalyptus eudesmioides subsp. Selachiana.[13]

Conservation status

This eucalypt is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.[2]

See also

• List of Eucalyptus species

References

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