| Sturt Creek mallee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| E. odontocarpa habit | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Eucalyptus |
| Species: | E. odontocarpa |
| Binomial name | |
| Eucalyptus odontocarpa | |
Eucalyptus odontocarpa, commonly known as Sturt Creek mallee, is a mallee that is native to northern Australia. [2] Indigenous Australians know the plant as Warilyu. [3]
The mallee typically grows to a height of 1.5 to 5 metres (5 to 16 ft) and has smooth bark. It blooms between April and July producing inflorescences with white flowers. [2] It forms multiple stems each with a diameter of 5 to 10 centimetres (2.0 to 3.9 in) [4] from a lignotuber. The bark is usually smooth over the length of the trunk and branches and is grey to brown to coppery but sometimes white to cream to pink in colour sometimes with a short stocking of pale grey to yellowy-brown rough flaky bark. [5] The bark sheds from the tree in short ribbons or as small polygonal flakes. [6] The concolorous, glossy green adult leaves have an opposite to sub-opposite arrangement. The leaves are supported on petioles which are 0.5 to 1.7 centimetres (0.2 to 0.7 in) long. The leaf blade has a narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate shape and is 5.5 to 19.5 centimetres (2 to 8 in) in length and are 0.5 to 1.8 centimetres (0 to 1 in) wide with a base that tapers to the petiole. [5] The compound inflorescences are axillary or terminal with 0.2 to 0.5 centimetres (0.08 to 0.20 in) long terete peduncles with three buds per umbel. The buds have a clavate to pyriform shape and are 0.45 to 0.6 cm (0.18 to 0.24 in) in length and 0.4 to 0.6 cm (0.16 to 0.24 in) wide. When the sessile fruits form they are shortly pedicellate and have a cylindrical to barrel-shaped to cup-shaped to obconical shape with a length of 0.7 to 1.4 cm (0.28 to 0.55 in) and a width of 0.5 to 0.7 cm (0.20 to 0.28 in). The fruits have a vertically descending disc with three or four enclosed valves. They contain flattened dull grey seeds and are 4 to 6 millimetres (0.16 to 0.24 in) long. [5] [7]
The species was first formally described by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1859 in the work Monograph of the Eucalypti of tropical Australia as published in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany. [8] The type specimen was collected by von Mueller from along Sturt's Creek in the Northern Territory in 1856. [6] The species name is from the ancient Greek odous, genitiveodontos (ὀδούς, genitive ὀδόντος) meaning "tooth" and karpos (καρπός) meaning "fruit" [9] and refers to the four teeth found around the rim of the fruit. [5] E. odontocarpa is very similar to E. gamophylla , but E. gamophylla is easily separated by its mature crown of broader leaves with an opposite arrangement. [5]
It is found on rocky scree slopes and plateaux, [4] sand plains and hills in the Pilbara, Kimberley and northern Goldfields regions of Western Australia where it grows in red sandy-loamy soils. [2] It is also found in central areas of the Northern Territory from around Daly Waters in the north to Barrow Creek in the south and into north western Queensland. [5]
It is found in northern arid areas including the Little Sandy Desert, Tanami Desert, Great Sandy Desert and the Channel Country.
In the Northern Territory the species forms part of the upper shrub layer in mixed woodland communities on sandplains often found with Corymbia opaca , Hakea macrocarpa and Atalya hemiglauca in the overstorey with Acacia coriacea and Streptoglossa odora in the shrub layer with a ground layer beneath including grasses such as Triodia pungens , Aristida holathera, Aristida contorta and Astrebla pectinata . [10] In the Pilbara of Western Australia it is found in low tree woodlands with Corymbia hamersleyana over Acacia tumida var. pilbarensis shrubland with Templetonia hookeri and Acacia adoxa over Triodia epactia hummock grasses. [11]
E. odontocarpa is sold commercially in seed form. [12] It is grown for use as firewood. [4] Indigenous Australians used the seeds of the plant as a food source. [3]
Acacia acanthoclada, commonly known as harrow wattle, is a low, divaricate, highly branched and spinescent shrub that is endemic to Australia.
Eucalyptus orbifolia, commonly known as round-leaved mallee, is a tree which occurs in inland areas Australia.
Eucalyptus oleosa, commonly known as the red mallee, glossy-leaved red mallee, acorn mallee, oil mallee or giant mallee, is a tree or mallee that is native to Australia. The leaves were once harvested for the production of cineole based eucalyptus oil. Eucalyptus cneorifolia is now the predominant strain used in production due to a higher oil content in new growth.
Eucalyptus phoenicea , commonly known as scarlet gum or gnaingar or ngainggar, is a tree of the family Myrtaceae from Northern Australia.
Acacia tumida, known colloquially as pindan wattle, spear wattle or wongai, is a species of Acacia native to northern and western Australia.
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Eucalyptus angulosa, also known as the ridge fruited mallee or southern ridge fruited mallee, is a eucalypt that is native to Western Australia. The Noongar peoples know the tree as quarral or kwaral.
Eucalyptus gamophylla, commonly known as warilu, blue-leaved mallee, twin-leaf mallee, twin-leaved mallee or blue mallee, is a species of mallee that is native to Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. It usually has smooth bark, mostly only juvenile leaves arranged in opposite pairs, flower buds in groups of three, whitish flowers and cylindrical to barrel-shaped fruit that is four-sided in cross-section.
Eucalyptus leucophloia, commonly known as snappy gum or migum, is a species of small tree or mallee that is endemic to northern Australia. The indigenous Mangarayi and Yangman peoples know the tree as mirndir, the Ngarluma name it as malygan and Yindjibarndi peoples know the tree as majgan. It has smooth, powdery bark, lance-shaped to egg-shaped adult leaves, flower buds usually in groups of seven, white flowers and cup-shaped, barrel-shaped or hemispherical fruit.
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Acacia leptophleba is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to northern Australia.
Acacia orthocarpa, also commonly known as Pilbara weeping wattle, needle-leaf wattle or straight-podded wattle, is a shrub or tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is endemic to tropical parts of northern Australia. The indigenous Nyangumarta peoples know it as yartupu.
Acacia tenuissima, commonly known as narrow-leaved wattle, broom wattle, minyana, slender mulga or slender wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae endemic to temperate and tropical areas of Australia. Indigenous Australians the Kurrama peoples know the plant as Janangungu and the Banyjima know it as Murruthurru.
Acacia dictyophleba, also known as the sandhill wattle, waxy wattle and feather veined wattle, is a shrub belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae. The Nyangumarta peoples know the plant as Langkur or Lungkun and the Thalanyji know it as Jabandi.
Acacia prainii, commonly known as Prain's wattle, is a shrub or tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Phyllodineae endemic to Australia.
Acacia retivenea, commonly known as the net-veined wattle, is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves that is endemic across northern Australia.
Eucalyptus similis, commonly known as the inland yellowjacket or the Queensland yellowjacket, is a eucalypt that is native to Queensland.
Eucalyptus moderata is a species of tree or a mallee that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has rough, hard, fibrous bark on some or all of the trunk, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds usually in groups of seven, pale yellow flowers and pendulous, urn-shaped fruit.
Acacia conspersa is a shrub or tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is native to northern Australia.
Acacia sericoflorais a shrub or tree belonging to the genus Acacia and the subgenus Juliflorae that is native to northern Australia.
