Eucalyptus brevifolia

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Snappy white gum
Eucalyptus brevifolia.jpg
Eucalyptus brevifolia near Tunnel Creek National Park
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Eucalyptus
Species:
E. brevifolia
Binomial name
Eucalyptus brevifolia

Eucalyptus brevifolia, commonly known as snappy white gum or northern white gum, [3] is a tree that is endemic to northern Australia. The indigenous Gija people know the tree as thalngarrji [4] . It has smooth, powdery white bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, buds arranged in group of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped or barrel-shaped fruit.

Contents

Description

Eucalyptus brevifolia is a tree that typically grows to a height of 10 metres (33 ft) and forms a lignotuber. The bark is smooth, white and powdery. Young plants and coppice regrowth have four-sided stems with a powdery bloom and oval to triangular leaves 40 to 70 millimetres (1.6 to 2.8 in) long and 30 to 70 mm (1.18 to 2.76 in) wide. Adult leaves are mostly lance-shaped, the same dull blue-grey on both sides, 50 to 110 millimetres (2.0 to 4.3 in) long and 150 to 280 mm (5.91 to 11.02 in) wide on a petiole 15 to 25 millimetres (0.6 to 1.0 in) long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven in leaf axils on a peduncle 3 to 9 millimetres (0.1 to 0.4 in) long, the individual buds on a pedicel that is sessile or up to 3 millimetres (0.1 in) long. The mature buds are oval to pear-shaped, 6 to 9 millimetres (0.2 to 0.4 in) long and 4 to 8 mm (0.16 to 0.31 in) wide with a more or less rounded operculum that is narrower than the floral cup at the join. Flowering occurs between March and August and the flowers are white or creamy yellow. The fruit is a woody, cup-shaped to barrel-shaped or hemispherical capsule 4 to 8 millimetres (0.2 to 0.3 in) long and 6 to 9 mm (0.24 to 0.35 in) wide with the valves at rim level or slightly beyond. [5] [6] [7] [8]

Taxonomy and naming

Eucalyptus brevifolia was first formally described in 1859 by Ferdinand von Mueller and the description was published in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany . [9] [10] The specific epithet (brevifolia) is from the Latin words brevis meaning "short" and folium meaning "leaf", [11] referring to the relatively short leaves. [7]

Distribution and habitat

Snappy white gum grows on slopes and rocky hill tops in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and in nearby parts of the Northern Territory between the Victoria River and the northern Tanami Desert where it grows in shallow skeletal soils. [5] [6]

Traditional ecological knowledge

The Gija people of the East Kimberley region of north-western Australia have called white snappy gum 'thalngarrji' since before its scientific classification (which they also used for Eucalyptus confluens ) and it continues to serve many important functions in their diet and lifestyle. Its wood is tradtionally used to make digging sticks and its wood continues to be a popular source of good coals of cooking. Its leaves are burnt for 'mantha' (smoking ceremonies to send spirits away, including as part of awelcome to country ceremony by some Gija clans). Fresh leaves of the thalngarrji plant are used in cooking, especially as a wrapping for meat when cooked in a fire for the flavoursome quality of its smoke. 'Daliyany', a type of 'sugar leaf' (lerp) is found on thalngarrji and is a soughtafter indigneous sweet. The flowers of the thalngarrji plant (known as 'goorramirndim' in Gija) are good for 'sugarbag' (bush honey).

See also

References

  1. ↑ Fensham, R.; Collingwood, T.; Laffineur, B. (2019). "Eucalyptus brevifolia". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2019: e.T133378244A133378246. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T133378244A133378246.en . Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  2. ↑ "Eucalyptus brevifolia". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  3. ↑ Philip A. Clarke (2012). Australian plants as Aboriginal Tools. Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN   9781922013576.
  4. ↑ Peters, Rusty; Blythe, Joe; Crane, Anna (2022). Gija Dictionary. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. ISBN   978-1-922752-10-9.
  5. 1 2 "Eucalyptus brevifolia". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  6. 1 2 "Eucalyptus brevifolia F.Muell". NT Flora. Northern Territory Government . Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Eucalyptus brevifolia Northern white gum, Snappy gum". Euclid: Cantre for Australian National Biodiversity Research. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  8. ↑ Chippendale, George M. "Eucalyptus brevifolia". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  9. ↑ "Eucalyptus brevifolia". APNI. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  10. ↑ von Mueller, Ferdinand (1859). "Monograph of the Eucalypti of tropical Australia". Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany. 3: 84. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  11. ↑ Backer, C.A. (1936). Verklarend woordenboek der wetenschappelijke namen van de in Nederland en Nederlandsch-Indië in het wild groeiende en in tuinen en parken gekweekte varens en hoogere planten (Edition Nicoline van der Sijs).
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