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Eucalyptus cerasiformis

Eucalyptus cerasiformis, commonly known as the cherry-fruited mallee, is a mallee that is endemic to a small area of Western Australia. It has smooth, pale grey, sometimes powdery bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, pale yellow or whitish flowers and cylindrical or bell-shaped fruit.

Description

Eucalyptus cerasiformis is a mallee that typically grows to a height of and has smooth, pale grey and white, sometimes powdery bark. The adult leaves are thin and the same glossy, grey-green on both sides. The leaf blade is narrow lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are borne in groups of seven in leaf s on a thin peduncle long, the individual buds on a pedicel long. Mature buds are more or less cylindrical, long and wide with a conical to rounded operculum with a point on the tip. Flowering occurs between December and March and the flowers are pale yellow or whitish. The fruit is a woody cylindrical, bell-shaped, urn-shaped or hemispherical capsule.

Taxonomy and naming

Eucalyptus cerasiformis was first formally described in 1978 by Ian Brooker and Donald Blaxell from a specimen collected by Blaxell near the Hyden - Norseman Road, east of Hyden. The description was published in the journal Nuytsia. The specific epithet (cerasiformis) is derived from the Latin cerasus meaning "cherry-tree" and -formis meaning "shape", referring to the hanging flower buds resembling a bunch of cherries.

Distribution and habitat

Cherry-fruited mallee is only known from the type location, just north of Lake Johnston where it grows in low, open forest in red-loamy soils.

Conservation status

This eucalypt is classified as "Priority Four" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife, meaning that is rare or near threatened.

See also

References