Eucalyptus moorei subsp. moorei

Narrow-leaved sally

Eucalyptus | Eucalyptus | Longitudinales

Eucalyptus moorei Maiden & Cambage, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 2nd ser., 30: 191 (1905) subsp. moorei.

Based on Eucalyptus stellulata var. angustifolia Benth., Fl. Austral. 3: 201 (1867); based in turn on E. microphylla A.Cunn. In B.Field, Geogr. Mem. New South Wales 350 (1825) p.p and nom. Illeg. non Willd. Ex Link (1822). T: "Mountainous country between...Port Jackson and... Bathurst; Oct., Nov. & Dec. 1822", A.Cunningham, ("the more elevated parts of the mountains"). Amongst the syntypes Bentham distinguished a narrow-leaved form. Lectotypification is necessary.

[Eucalyptus microphylla auct. Non A.Cunn.: G.Bentham, Fl. Austral. 3: 201 (1867).]

Eucalyptus moorei var. latiuscula Blakely, Key Eucalypts 207 (1934). E. latiuscula (Blakely) L.A.S.Johnson & K.D.Hill, Telopea 4 (1) 102 (1990). T: Tuross R., 16 miles E of Nimitybelle [Nimmitabel], NSW, 4 Nov. 1908, R.H.Cambage 1981; holo: NSW; iso: CANB.

Eucalyptus dissita K.D.Hill, Telopea 7(2)104(1996). T: New South Wales: Northern Tablelands: Surveyors Creek track, K.D.Hill 4792, et al., 22 Feb. 1996; holo:NSW; iso: AD, BRI, CANB, K, MEL, MO.

Mallee to 7 m tall. Forming a lignotuber.
Bark smooth, blotched white, yellow, pink, brown, green or grey.
Juvenile growth (coppice or field seedlings to 50 cm): stem round in cross-section, usually warty; juvenile leaves opposite and sessile for about 8 to 20 pairs, then alternate, sessile to shortly petiolate, ovate to elliptical or oblong, 2.8–4.5 cm long, 0.6–2.5 cm wide, base rounded or tapering to petiole, apex finely pointed, earlier leaves slightly bluish green, then glossy, green, erect.
Adult leaves alternate, petiole 0–0.8 cm long; blade linear to narrowly lanceolate or falcate, 3–9 cm long, 0.4–1.3 cm wide, base tapering to petiole, concolorous, glossy, green, parallel-veined or side-veins obscure, reticulation sparse or absent, intramarginal vein absent or remote from margin, oil glands island.
Inflorescence axillary unbranched, peduncles 0.1–0.7 cm long, buds 7 to ?15 per umbel, arranged in stellate clusters, sessile or on pedicels 0.1 cm long. Mature buds fusiform, 0.5–0.7 cm long, 0.2 cm wide, red to yellow or green, scar absent, operculum conical to horn-shaped, stamens irregularly flexed, anthers reniform to cordate, versatile, dorsifixed, dehiscing by confluent slits, style long, stigma blunt or tapered, locules 3 or 4, the placentae each with 2 vertical ovule rows. Flowers white.
Fruit sessile or on pedicels 0.1 cm long, cup-shaped or truncate-globose, 0.4–0.5 cm long, 0.3–0.6 cm wide, disc descending, valves 3 or 4, enclosed.
Seeds brown, 1–2 mm long, pyramidal or obliquely pyramidal, dorsal surface smooth, hilum terminal.

Cultivated seedlings (measured at ca node 10): cotyledons reniform; stems rounded in cross-section, warty; leaves sessile to shortly petiolate, opposite for 10 or more nodes, ovate-lanceolate, 4–10 cm long, 1.5–3.5 cm wide, base stem-clasping to rounded, margin entire, apex pointed, dull, blue-green to green.

Flowering has been recorded in February, March, April and May.

Eucalyptus moorei is a mallee species occurring in several high mountain localities in New South Wales, preferring sites with coarse gritty sandy soils near to but slightly above swamps or boggy areas. Eucalyptus moorei is one of a small group of related species with small fusiform buds in axillary stellate clusters, differing by the habit, small size, completely smooth bark and narrower juvenile leaves from the widespread rough-butted sub-alpine tree or mallee E. stellulata, and differing from the Victorian endemic sub-alpine tree E. mitchelliana, which has smooth much whiter bark and longer juvenile and adult leaves. There are three other described taxa in the group, viz. the variety E. moorei var. latiuscula, E. moorei subsp. serpentinicola and the recently described E. dissita. We regard both var. latiuscula, with marginally broader juvenile leaves, and E. dissita from the eastern side of the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales with slightly longer petioles and scarcely shorter broader adult leaves, as part of E. moorei subsp. moorei because there is considerable overlap in dimensions.

There are two subspecies:

E. moorei subsp. moorei
Found in the Gibraltar Range, Blue Mountains, Budawang Range, Tinderry Range and in the Wadbilliga area, and recently found in the Ororral Valley ACT. It has elliptical to oblong juvenile leaves 0.6-2.5 cm wide, often growing on exposed sandstone sites near seepages.

E. moorei subsp. serpentinicola
It is found only in the Mooning Ground area north-west of Gloucester and is distinguished by its linear juvenile leaves 0.2–0.7 cm wide and highly unusual habitat, viz. isolated hills of red soil over serpentinite, where it grows with Triodia and Xanthorrhoea.

Eucalyptus moorei belongs in Eucalyptus subgenus Eucalyptus section Longitudinales because of the following combination of characters: mallee habit, juvenile leaves opposite for several to many pairs, adult leaves with side-veins more or less parallel to midrib, single axillary inflorescences, buds sessile and fusiform in stellate clusters, with buds having only one operculum, reniform anthers and ovules in two rows, and more or less pyramidal seeds. There are only three recognized species in section Longitudinales, E. stellulata, E. mitchelliana and E. moorei (with two subspecies), differing as outlined above.

Note about Eucalyptus copulans L.A.S.Johnson & K.D.Hill. This species was described in Telopea 4: 261 (1991) from three specimens collected in 1899, 1951 and 1957 from a creek on sandstone near Wentworth, in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. At the time of publication it was thought to be extinct. Since then two plants have been rediscovered. The species seems to the authors of EUCLID to be very similar to E. moorei subsp. moorei but perhaps grows taller than that subspecies. The only differences between the original description of E. copulans, and the description of E. moorei subsp. moorei, as presented here in EUCLID, are the upper limit on length of juvenile leaves (slightly longer in E. copulans but largely overlapping) and the upper limit on widths of adult leaves (slightly wider in E. copulans but largely overlapping). Because of its morphological similarity we feel its taxonomic status needs to be re-assessed, and we have omitted it from EUCLID.

Eucalyptus copulans is listed as "Endangered" under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Further information may be found at this web address:
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/sprat.pl

Eucalyptus moorei: after Charles Moore (1820–1905). Charles Moore's first appointment was as botanist to the Ordnance Geological Survey of Ireland. He arrived in Sydney in 1848 to take up the position of Director of the Botanic Gardens and occupied that position until he retired in 1896. In 1850 he made an extensive tour of the south Pacific, visiting New Zealand, the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. Some of the older and larger trees in the Sydney Botanic Gardens are from seeds gathered by him on this trip.