Prior names
Eucalyptus anceps, partly
Eucalyptus incrassata ssp. conglobata
Eucalyptus dumosa var. conglobata
Common names
Port Lincoln Mallee
Cong 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. Conglobata from the Latin 'conglobatus' meaning made like a ball; referring to the tightly clustered fruits.
Distribution and status
Found on the southern tip Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, growing on loam over limestone in mallee shrubland. Also found in Western Australia. Native. Rare in South Australia. Uncommon in Western Australia.
Herbarium regions: Eyre Peninsula, Southern Lofty
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Multi- or less often single-stemmed trees to 12 m high with smooth, light-grey or grey-brown bark, shedding in strips to reveal a paler layer, sometimes rough at the base. Juvenile leaves opposite to alternate, elliptic to ovate. Adult leaves to140 mm long and 30 mm wide, lanceolate to broad-lanceolate, thick, leathery, dullish or somewhat glossy, green. Flowers in umbels of up to 13 in the axils of the leaves, tightly clustered and lacking individual stalk. Buds to 12 mm long and 6 mm wide, sessile, ovoid or cylindrical, striate or not, bud-cap conical, as long as or longer than and often broader than the 2-ribbed bud-base. Flowers white or cream, throughout the year. Fruits are hemispherical to cylindrical fruit to 10 mm long and 10 mm wide, smooth or 2- or 3-ribbed, often striate, with a narrow rim and descending disk, valves triangular, with narrow points about level with or slightly exserted from the rim. Seeds are dark red to brown ovoid seed to 3 mm long and 1.5 mm wide, with a slight wrinkled surface. 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 one to two weeks. 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 one collection, the seed viability was high, at 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 | 12,800 (13.79 g) | 50 | 23-Apr-2008 | DJD1063 Eyre Peninsula | 19-Sep-2008 | 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.