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Eucalyptus abdita Brooker & Hopper, Nuytsia 8: 61 (1991).
T: Mt Misery, 30°
41' S 115°
37' E, Western Australia, 20 Sept. 1988, M.I.H.Brooker 10086 &
S.D.Hopper; holo: PERTH; iso: AD, CANB, MEL, NSW.
Mallee to 3 m tall. Forming a lignotuber.
Bark smooth throughout, grey.
Branchlets with sparsely glandular pith.
Juvenile growth (coppice or field seedlings to 50 cm):
stems squared to rounded in cross-section; juvenile leaves always
petiolate, opposite for 3 or 4 nodes then alternate, ovate to deltoid,
8.2-11.6 cm long, 4-6 cm wide, base truncate, rounded or tapering
to petiole, margin entire or slightly irregular, green to bluish green.
Adult leaves alternate, petioles 1-2 cm long;
blade lanceolate, 5.5-8(10) cm long, 1.1-1.8
cm wide, base tapering to petiole, margin entire, apex pointed, concolorous,
newer leaves dull, blue-green, older leaves green and slightly glossy,
side-veins greater than 45° to midrib, reticulation dense, intramarginal
vein remote from margin, oil glands mostly intersectional.
Inflorescences axillary unbranched, peduncles widening
apically, 0.8-1.5
cm long; buds to ?13, pedicellate, fusiform and often curved, scar
present, operculum conical, to about twice the length of the hypanthium
and equal to it at the join, very few outer stamens completely erect,
most stamens are deflexed to varying degrees, anthers oblong, dorsifixed,
dehiscing by longitudinal slits, style long and straight, stigma rounded,
locules 3, the placentae each with 4 vertical rows of ovules; flowers
white.
Fruit pedicellate, cylindrical to barrel-shaped, 0.4-0.5 cm
wide, disc descending vertically, valves 3, near rim level.
Seed straw-coloured, 0.8-1.5 mm long, sub-spherical, surface
smooth, hilum ventral/terminal.
Cultivated seedling (measured at ca node 10): cotyledons bisected
(Y-shaped); stems rounded to squared in cross-section; leaves always
petiolate, opposite for 2 or 3 nodes then alternate, ovate to narrowly
deltoid, 5-7 cm long, 2.5-4 cm wide, base truncate, lamina green,
becoming glossy by ca node 7.
NOTES
Eucalyptus abdita (Latin abditus, hidden, concealed.
Refers to the authors' overlooking E. abdita at its type locality
because of a mistaken first impression that the species was E.
pluricaulis ).
A mallee endemic to Western Australia, of disjunct distribution, occurring
north of Perth where it is known only from Mt Misery near Dandaragan
and north-west to Mt Peron and north to Three Springs. It has
smooth bark and greenish leaves becoming slightly glossy with age.
Eucalyptus abdita belongs to Eucalyptus subgenus Symphyomyrtus
section Bisectae subsection Glandulosae because the
cotyledons are bisected, buds have an operculum scar and the branchlets
have oil glands in the pith. Within this subsection E. abdita
is one of a group of 14 species that form series Levispermae
subseries Cubiformes, characterized by having smooth almost
cuboid to sub-spherical seed (not spherical), flattened peduncles
that widen apically and buds that are narrowly fusiform with some
stamens erect and others variably deflexed.
E. abdita may be confused in the field with E. pluricaulis
, a species with bluish green leaves that remain dull and with
longer, narrower buds and yellowish flowers. E. abdita differs
from E. wandoo in its mallee habit.
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