Eucalyptus flocktoniae
Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox
Eucalyptus flocktoniae, commonly known as merrit,[1] is a species of tree or mallee that is endemic to Western Australia. It has smooth, silvery grey bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, prominently beaked flower buds in groups of seven or nine and barrel-shaped or urn-shaped fruit.
Description
Eucalyptus flocktoniae is a tree or a mallee that typically grows to a height of Template:Cvt and forms a lignotuber. It has smooth silvery grey or brownish bark, sometimes with a small amount of rough bark near the base. Young plants and coppice regrowth have elliptical to egg-shaped or lance-shaped leaves that are Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide. Adult leaves are lance-shaped to curved, the some glossy green on both sides, Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide on a petiole Template:Cvt long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven or nine on an unbranched peduncle Template:Cvt long, the individual buds on pedicels Template:Cvt long. Mature buds are oval, Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide with a prominently beaked to horn-shaped operculum Template:Cvt long. Flowering occurs from August to December or from January to April and the flowers are white to cream-coloured or pale yellow. The fruit is a woody, barrel-shaped or urn-shaped capsule Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt wide.[1][2][3]
Taxonomy and naming
Merrit was first formally described in 1911 by Joseph Maiden who gave it the name Eucalyptus oleosa var. flocktoniae in the Journal of the Natural History & Science Society of Western Australia.[4][5] In 1916, Maiden raised the variety to species status as E. flocktoniae.[6] The specific epithet (flocktoniae) honours "Miss Margaret Flockton, the accomplished artist of my 'Critical Revision of the genus Eucalyptus' and 'Forest Flora of New South Wales'".[5]
"Merrit" is the name given to the species by Noongar people.[7]
In 1999, Dean Nicolle and John Conran described two subspecies and the names have been accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
- Eucalyptus flocktoniae (Maiden) Maiden subsp. flocktoniae[8] has glossy green leaves;[2]
- Eucalyptus flocktoniae subsp. hebes D.Nicolle[9] has bluish green leaves.[2]
Distribution and habitat
Eucalyptus flocktoniae usually grows in open woodland and forest on sandy plains. Subspecies flocktoniae occurs between Mingenew, the Stirling Range and the Ravensthorpe area. Subspecies hebes has a narrower distribution mainly between Esperance and Balladonia.[2][3]
Gallery
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illustration by Margaret Flockton
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mature tree, circa 1920
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habit in the ANBG
References
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