Eucalyptus kenneallyi explained

Eucalyptus kenneallyi, commonly known as Kenneally's white gum,[1] is a species of tree that is endemic to two small islands off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and cylindrical fruit.

Description

Eucalyptus kenneallyi is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has smooth white to brownish bark that is shed in large plates or flakes. The adult leaves are the same shade of green on both sides, lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils, usually in groups of seven, on an unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds on pedicels long. Mature buds are oval to club-shaped, long and about wide with a conical operculum. The flowers are white or cream-coloured and the fruit is a woody, cylindrical capsule long and about wide.[2] [3]

Taxonomy and naming

Eucalyptus kinneallyi was first formally described in 2000 by Ken Hill and Lawrie Johnson from a specimen collected by Kevin Kinneally on Storr Island. The description was published in the journal Telopea.[4] The specific epithet honours Kevin Francis Kenneally.

Distribution and habitat

Kenneally's white gum is only known from Storr and Koolan Islands near the north Kimberley coast, where it grows in thin sandy soils on hard siliceous outcrops.

Conservation status

This eucalypt is classified as "Priority One" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations which are potentially at risk.[5]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Eucalypts of Northern Australia: ecological & conservation values. A Summary. 6 October 2016. Kimberley to Cape.
  2. Web site: Eucalyptus kinneallyi . Euclid: Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research . 1 June 2020.
  3. Hill . Kenneth D. . Johnson . Lawrence A.S. . Systematic studies in the eucalypts. 10. New tropical and subtropical eucalypts from Australian and New Guinea . Telopea . 2000 . 8 . 4 . 518–519. 10.7751/telopea20002007 .
  4. Web site: Eucalyptus kinneallyi. APNI. 8 August 2019.
  5. Web site: Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna. Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. 8 August 2019.