Eucalyptus mediocris explained

Eucalyptus mediocris, commonly known as inland white mahogany, is a eucalypt that is endemic to the Australian state of Queensland.[1]

Description

The tree grows to a height of around 20m (70feet) and has a lignotuber. It has fibrous, rough grey or yellowish grey-brown or orange-brown-grey coloured bark throughout. It is attached to the trunk in flat strips resembling a typical stringybark.

The concolorous glossy green adult leaves are alternately arranged. The leaf blade has a lanceolate to falcate shape and are 6to in length and 1to wide. It flowers between July and October producing axillary unbranched inflorescences but can appear to be arranged in clusters toward the end of the branch. The ovoid to obovoid shaped green to yellow mature buds are 0.7to in length and 0.3to wide and have creamy shaped flowers.[2]

The fruit that form after flowering have a truncate-globose to hemispherical shape with a length of 0.5to and a width of 0.5to. The disc is almost level and has three or four valves. The fruit contain brown coloured seeds with a pyramidal shape and a length of about 1.5to.[2]

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanists Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson and Ken Hill in 1992 as part of the work "A taxonomic revision of the White Mahogonies, Eucalyptus series Acmenoideae (Myrtaceae)" as published in the journal Telopea.[3] [4]

The specific epithet is taken from the Latin word mediocris meaning "middling" in reference to medium-sized habit of the tree.[2]

E. mediocris is part of the white mahogany group as recognised by Ken Hill, others in the group include; E. acmenoides, E. apothalassica, E. carnea, E. helidonica, E. latisinensis, E. psammitica and E. umbra.[5]

The type specimen was collected by Ken Hill just north of Glenhaughton in 1996.[6]

Distribution

The tree is native to an area of inland Queensland from around the Carnarvon Range in the north east extending south to the Atherton Tableland.[5]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Eucalyptus mediocris. 11 November 2016. WetlandInfo. Queensland Government.
  2. Web site: Eucalyptus mediocris. 1 June 2020. Euclid. CSIRO.
  3. Web site: Eucalyptus mediocris. APNI. 27 September 2019.
  4. Hill . Kenneth D. . A taxonomic revision of the white mahoganies, Eucalyptus series Acmenoideae (Myrtaceae) . Telopea . 1999 . 8 . 2 . 237–239. 10.7751/telopea19993002 . free .
  5. Web site: More about White Mahoganies. 28 October 2018. Euclid. CSIRO. 14 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190414224938/https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/cd-keys/euclid3/euclidsample/html/White_mahoganies.htm. dead.
  6. Web site: Eucalyptus mediocris. Eucalink. 28 October 2018. Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney.