Eucalyptus caesia
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Eucalyptus caesia, commonly known as Caesia, Gungurru or Silver Princess, is a mallee of the Eucalyptus genus. It is endemic to the central Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. It grows to a height of 5–10 metres, and has large pink or white flowers, white buds and fruit, and red-brown bark. It is widely grown as an ornamental native plant, but has become rare in the wild.
Taxonomic History
Eucalyptus caesia was named in 1867 by George Bentham from specimens collected by James Drummond in 1847. Drummond made his collection too late in the season to gather buds and flowers, and this made later identification difficult. During the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition of 1891–2, Richard Helms gathered specimens of a Eucalyptus that the Indigenous Australians of the area called "Gungurru". This was almost certainly Eucalyptus woodwardii, but in 1896 it was misidentified by Mueller and Tate as E. caesia. This led to the incorrect application of the common name "Gungurru" to E. caesia, and to confusion about the species' distribution.Authenticated collections of E. caesia were later made by A. Morrison in 1885, and in 1923 Charles Gardner collected specimens from a form with considerably larger leaves, buds, flowers and fruits. This was later recognised as subspecies magna by Brooker and Hopper (1982), with the original form being designated subspecies caesia.
References
- [Flora of Western Australia] s.v. [Eucalyptus caesia].
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