Plants of
South Australia
Eucalyptus pimpiniana
Myrtaceae
Pimpin Mallee
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Prior names

Eucalyptus isingiana

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. Pimpiniana is from the Aboriginal name for the plant.

Distribution and status

Found in the western part of South Australia in the Great Victoria Desert growing on red sand on plains and dunes in open mallee shrubland. Also found in Western Australia. Native. Common in South Australia. Uncommon in Western Australia.
Herbarium regions: North Western, Nullarbor
NRM region: Alinytjara Wilurara
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Multi-trunked, dense-crowned, low-growing mallee to 2 m high, with smooth pinkish-grey to tan to white bark throughout. Juvenile leaves ovate to lanceolate, dull green. Adult leaves to 140 mm long and 33 mm wide, lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, sometimes rather thick, dull blue-grey. Flowers in groups of 7-19 in the axils of the leaves on a long drooping stalk. Buds to 33 mm long and 11 mm wide, cylindrical to narrowly obovoid, striate or sometimes ribbed; bud-cap cone-shaped to pointed top, about as long as the hypanthium. Flowers yellow, flowering between July and November. Fruits are woody, cylinder-shaped to barrel-shaped fruit to 22 mm long and 13 mm wide, usually faintly ribbed, with broad vertical disk and narrow rim; valves 3 or 4 below the rim. Seeds are dark brown ovoid seed to 4 mm long and 2 mm wide, with a wing-like margin and reticulate 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 90%. 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
BGA 
MSB
9,500 (20.4 g)
9,500 (20.4 g)
21-Apr-2005BS94-4890
North Western
31-Mar-200690%-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.