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Eucalyptus annulata Benth., Fl. Austral. 3: 234 (1867).
T: Salt R., W.A., G.Maxwell s.n.; holo: K; iso: MEL.
Mallee to 7m tall. Forming a lignotuber.
Bark usually smooth throughout, of 'oily' appearance, grey
and red-brown to yellowish green.
Branchlets with pith oil glands.
Juvenile growth (coppice or field seedlings to 50 cm):
stems squared in cross-section; juvenile leaves opposite, sub-opposite
to alternate, petiolate, ovate to lanceolate, 4-7.5 cm long, 1.3-2
cm wide, blue-green for ca 20-30 cm of growth then green.
Adult leaves alternate, petioles 0.7-1.8 cm; blade narrowly
lanceolate, 6-11.5 cm long, 0.7-1.7 cm wide, base tapering to petiole,
margin entire, apex pointed, concolorous, glossy, green, side-veins
greater than 45° to midrib
or side veins and reticulation obscured by numerous oil glands, intramarginal
vein present.
Inflorescence axillary, single, peduncle broadly flattened,
erect, 0.4-1.5 cm long; buds 7, sessile or sometimes shortly pedicellate,
stout, slightly curved, scar present, operculum not tapering much,
blunt at apex or dilated, ca 4 times as long as the cupular hypanthium
and narrower at the join, stamens erect, anthers narrowly oblong,
weakly versatile, sub-basifixed, dehiscing by longitudinal slits,
style straight, long, stigma, more or less tapered, locules 4, the
placentae convex, each with 4 to 6 vertical ovule rows or the rows
indistinct; flowers creamy to pale yellow.
Fruit on erect or down turned peduncles, usually sessile, hemispherical
to cupular, 0.8-1.2 cm wide, sometimes angled slightly, disc descending
vertically, valves 4, strongly exserted.
Seeds brown, 1-2.5 mm long, cuboid to ovoid, dorsal surface
with numerous more or less parallel fissures only near the margin,
centre of dorsal surface more or less smooth, sides ridged or scarcely
so, margin hardly toothed, hilum ventral or more or less terminal.
(Seedcoat often referred to as being honey-combed.)
Cultivated seedling (measured at ca node 10): cotyledons Y-shaped
(bisected); stems squared in cross-section,
smooth or slightly warty; leaves always shortly petiolate, opposite
for 5 to 7 nodes then alternate, ovate, 3-4.5 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm
wide, dull, mid-green.
NOTES
Eucalyptus annulata (Latin, annulatus,
marked with a ring or ringlike, referring to the disc of the fruit).
Usually a mallee with smooth bark, endemic to Western Australia occurring
in southern sub-coastal districts and the southern wheatbelt from
Katanning and Pallinup River east to near Mt Ney, characteristically
on heavy-soiled flats.
Eucalyptus annulata belongs in Eucalyptus subgenus Symphyomyrtus
section Bisectae sub-section Glandulosae because the
buds have two opercula, the cotyledons are bisected and the branchlets
have numerous oil glands in the pith.
Eucalyptus annulata is related to the gimlets (series Contortae)
by habit and bark type and the prominently exserted valves of the
fruit. It also has seed somewhat like the gimlets but the seedcoat
is much less markedly fissured although the margins are still ragged.
The species also shares characters with E. eremophila and
related species (subseries Abundae), viz. erect stamens and
leaves with crowded round oil glands obscuring the venation.
Eucalyptus annulata, is closely related to only two other species,
E. protensa , restricted to the area from south of Norseman
to near Balladonia, and E. extensa , found from north of Salmon
Gums to Hyden and Southern Cross. Both E. protensa and E.
extensa are mallets. E. protensa has more or less terete
peduncles, buds with slender pedicels and finely elongated opercula
whilst E. extensa has broadly flattened peduncles, buds with
short pedicels and long but not finely elongated opercula. E. annulata
also has broadly flattened peduncles, buds that are sessile to shortly
pedicellate and slightly shorter opercula that are often dilated apically.
In the Nyabing area several collections have been made in recent years
of rough-barked trees that show similarity with both E. annulata
and E. extensa .
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