Plants of
South Australia
Eucalyptus eremicola ssp. eremicola
Myrtaceae
Vokes Hill Mallee,
Nawa
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Prior names

Eucalyptus eremicola, partly

Common names

Vokes Hill Mallee

Nawa

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. Eremicola from the Greek 'eremia' meaning desert and 'cola' meaning dwelling; alluding to the occurrence of the species in the Great Victoria Desert.

Distribution and status

Found in the western part of South Australia, in the Great Victoria Desert, growing on deep red sand overlying limestone in low dunes, flats and swales in open mallee. Also found in Western Australia. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in Western Australia.
Herbarium regions: North Western, Nullarbor, Gairdner-Torrens
NRM region: Alinytjara Wilurara
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Multi-stemmed mallee to 9 m high with rough, stringy-fibrous, grey bark on lower stems and smooth, pinkish-grey over cream to white, often powdery bark above. Juvenile leaves elliptical first becoming linear, bull green to slightly bluish-green. Adult leaves to 133 mm long and 21 mm wide, narrow-lanceolate, highly glossy green. Inflorescences in groups of 9-13 in the axils of the leaves. Buds to 8 mm long and 4 mm wide, cylinder-shaped, bud-cap long cone-shaped longer than the base. Flowers white appearing sporadically after rain. This subspecies differ from the other subspecies found in South Australia, E. eremicola ssp. peeneri which has dull to slightly glossy, blue-green adult leaves. Fruits are round woody fruit to 5.5 mm long and 7 mm wide, disc descending, valves 3 or 4, enclosed below rim. Seeds are grey-brown ovoid seed to 2 mm long and 1.3 mm wide, with fine wrinkled surface texture. 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 average, at 70%. Seeds are non-dormant, viable seed should germinate readily.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA22,000 (12.52 g)1223-Sep-2014DJD3039
North Western
1-Jan-201695%-18°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
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.
Germination table:
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