Botanical art
Prior names
Eucalyptus calycogona var. calycogona, partly
Eucalyptus calycogona ssp. 'Eastern'
Eucalyptus calycogona, partly
Common names
Red Mallee
Square-fruit Mallee
Etymology
Eucalyptus from the Greek 'eu' meaning well and 'calyptos' meaning covered, alluding to the cap or lid which covers the stamens in the bud. Calycogona from the Greek 'calyx' the calyx and 'gonia' meaning angle; referring to the angular buds and fruit. Trachybasis from the Greek 'trachys' meaning rough and 'basis' meaning base; referring to the rough bark on the lower stems of this subspecies.
Distribution and status
Found scattered in mallee shrubland on red-brown loams on Yorke Peninsula, northern Mount Lofty Ranges and the Murray region. Also found in New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Uncommon in South Australia..
Herbarium regions: Flinders Ranges, Northern Lofty, Murray, Yorke Peninsula, South Eastern
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Northern and Yorke, South Australian Arid Lands, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Multi-stemmed mallee to 8 m tall with rough brown to grey bark on lower stems and smooth grey to cream bark above. Juvenile leaves elliptical to lanceolate, dull, green. Adult leaves lanceolate to 90 mm long and 15 mm wide, shiny green. Flower buds square shape with four longitudinal ribs with bub cap much shorter than the base. Flowers white or rarely pink. Fruits are woody square fruit with four longitudinal ribs, longer than wide and constricted near the rim. Seeds are light brown ovoid seed to 1.5 mm long and 1 mm wide. Seed embryo type is folded.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between January and December. Collect mature fruits that are dark and hard (difficult to break with a finger nail) with the valves un-open any time of year. Leave the fruits in a breathable container in a dry room for at least a week. This allows the valves on the fruit to open and release the seeds. Separate the seeds by placing all the materials into a bucket and shaking it to dislodge the seeds. Pass the material through a sieve to separate the unwanted material. The finer material will contain both seeds (soft) and frass (hard) usually distinguishable from each other but can be very similar in shape and colour. With finer sieves, the seeds can be separated from the frass but this is not essential for storage or propagation. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. From two collections, the seed viability were high, ranging from 95% to 100%. Seeds are non-dormant, viable seed should germinate readily.
| Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BGA MSB | 28,000 (7.78 g) 26,000 (7.17 g) | 35+ | 18-Dec-2005 | KHB18 Murray | 11-Aug-2006 | 95% | -18°C |
| BGA | 1,800 (0.66 g) | 5 | 18-Dec-2008 | KHB203 Flinders Ranges | 20-Jul-2009 | 100% | -18°C |
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.