Eucalyptus kondininensis subsp. tuberosa

Eucalyptus | Symphyomyrtus | Dumaria | Rufispermae

Eucalyptus kondininensis subsp. tuberosa ined.

(manuscript name of Dean Nicolle, for which Nicolle & Brooker 4410 (CANB 558707) is a representative specimen)

Mallee to 8 m tall. Lignotuberous.
Bark rough, black or grey-black, coarsely flaky and fissured to hard and compact for about half of trunk, branches smooth, grey cream and orange.
Branchlets with oil glands in pith.
Juvenile growth (coppice or field seedlings to 50 cm): not grown.
Adult leaves alternate, petioles 1–1.8 cm long; blade lanceolate or becoming slightly falcate, 7.4–11 cm long, 0.8–1.5 cm wide, base tapering to petiole, margin entire, apex acute, glossy, green, side-veins at an acute or wider angle to midrib, reticulation usually dense, intramarginal vein remote from margin, oil glands intersectional.
Inflorescence axillary unbranched, peduncles 0.5–1.4 cm long, buds 7 per umbel, sessile or pedicels to 0.2 cm long. Mature buds more or less ovoid, 0.7–0.8 cm long, 0.4–0.5 cm wide, but operculum may be wider than or equal to hypanthium at the join, scar present, operculum conical or shortly beaked, stamens inflexed, anthers ± wedge-shaped, versatile, dorsifixed, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, style straight, long, stigma rounded to tapering, locules 4, the placentae each with 4 vertical rows of ovules. Flowers white.
Fruit sessile or rarely shortly pedicellate (pedicels 0–0.2 cm long), cupular to obconical, 0.4–0.5 cm long, 0.5–0.6 cm wide, disc descending, valves 4, near rim level.
Seeds reddish brown and glossy, 0.8–2 mm long, flattened-ovoid and often angular in outline, dorsal surface sometimes lacunose, shallowly reticulate, hilum ventral.

Cultivated seedlings (measured at ca node 10): not grown.

Flowering has been recorded in February.

The tree form of Eucalyptus kondinensis has been recorded as being naturalised in Victoria, in the farming district of Glenmore, near Bacchus Marsh, where it has spread from soil conservation plantings.

Eucalyptus kondininensis is a small to medium-sized tree but sometimes a mallee. It is endemic to Western Australia, restricted in distribution to the southern wheatbelt from Wickepin to east of Hyden and Lake King and south to Nyabing and Lake Magenta, often occurring on loamy, salty flats adjacent to salt lakes, but also known from more elevated sites.  E. kondininensis  has rough black bark on most of the trunk, smooth shiny on limbs, adult leaves are narrow and glossy green, and the buds and fruit are small and sessile or almost so.

There are two forms of Eucalyptus kondininensis informally recognised in EUCLID:

E. kondininensis subsp. kondininensis
The typical well-known single-stemmed tree form which may have or lack a lignotuber (i.e. is either a tree capable of resprouting basally, or is a mallet).

E. kondininensis subsp. tuberosa
This mallee form is found in the the wheatbelt area south of Cunderdin, and from Narrogin to Harrismith, Kulin, Yealering, Bullaring to Pingelly, on gravelly lateritic soils on low hills and rising ground. It is distinguished only by its habit, which is several stems arising from a lignotuber.

In bud and fruit features, Eucalyptus kondininensis resembles E. phenax subsp. phenax which differs by its mallee habit, smooth bark and fruit slightly longer than wide. E. kondininensis has a more south-westerly distribution than any other rough-barked tree species in series Rufispermae. Of these rough-barked trees E. kondininensis subsp. kondininensis has narrow, glossy leaves and the branchlets, buds and fruits are non-glaucous compared with the dull-leaved E. clelandii and the glossy, coarse-leaved E. lesouefii, whereas the more northerly E. striaticalyx has dull grey-green leaves, is non-glaucous, has slightly larger buds and fruits and more extensive rough bark. E. polita, a smooth-barked mallet that occurs on comparatively elevated sites from south of Marvel Loch (Mt Caudan area) towards Norseman, has very similar buds, fruit and adult leaves to E. kondininensis.

In the classification of Brooker (2000) Eucalyptus kondininensis belongs in Eucalyptus subgenus Symphyomyrtus section Dumaria having these features: buds initially with two opercula the outer shed early, stamens strongly inflexed, ovules in 4 rows on the placentae and cotyledons reniform. Within section Dumaria the species belongs to a large sub-group of closely related species (series Rufispermae, 37 described species and subspecies) diagnosed by glandular pith in the branchlets, anthers cuboid to wedge-shaped, versatile, dorsifixed, and by the reddish brown and glossy, flattish seeds which are unique to the series.

Eucalyptus kondininensis: referring to the town of Kondinin, Western Australia.

subsp. tuberosa: from Latin tuber, a hump or swelling, referring to the lignotuber.