Eucalyptus brachyandra
| Tropical red box | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Eucalyptus |
| Species: | E. brachyandra |
| Binomial name | |
| Eucalyptus brachyandra F.Meull. | |
Eucalyptus brachyandra, commonly known as the tropical red box, is a tree that is native to Western Australia and the Northern Territory.[1]
The tree or shrub has a straggly and sometimes a mallee habit and forms a lignotuber.[2] It will typically grows to a height of 2 to 8 metres (7 to 26 ft) and has fissured fibrous bark.[1] The bark is grey or grey-brown and persistent on the trunk and larger branches. The adult leaves are opposite and dull, green or grey-green, thin and discolorous. They have an elliptic or ovate shape and are basally tapered.[3] The tree is deciduous in the dry season.[2] It blooms between August and November producing white flowers. The conflorescence is compound with a terminal location forming three to seven flowered umbellasters. Buds ovoid or pyriform followed by campanulate fruits.[3] It has one of the smallest fruit in the Eucalyptus genus.[2]
The species was first formally described by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1859 as part of the work Monograph of the Eucalypti of tropical Australia. published in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany.[4] The description was from samples collected by von Mueller in December 1855 along the upper Victoria River in the Northern Territory.[3]
It is found on rocky sites or in rock fissures in the Kimberley region of Western Australia growing in sandy skeletal soils over sandstone or quartzite.[1] It is also found in the north west of the Northern Territory from south of Darwin, Northern Territory extending south west from the Tabletop Range through the Victoria River catchment area to the Western Australian border. Its usual habitat is on sandstone plateaus and ridge tops.[2]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 "Eucalyptus brachyandra". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
- 1 2 3 4 "Eucalyptus brachyandra F.Muell. Myrtaceae". NT Flora. Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
- 1 2 3 "Eucalyptus brachyandra". Eucalink. Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
- ↑ "Eucalyptus brachyandra F.Muell.". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 23 June 2017.