Eucalyptus cuprea
Eucalyptus cuprea, commonly known as the mallee box, is a species of mallee that is endemic to the west coast of Western Australia. It has rough, flaky bark on the base of its trunk, smooth coppery-coloured bark above, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, creamy white flowers and conical to cup-shaped fruit.
Description
Eucalyptus cuprea is a mallee that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has rough flaky, box-style bark for up to of the trunk, smooth copper-colour to pale orange-grey bark above. Young plants and coppice regrowth have egg-shaped, dull greyish green leaves that are long and wide. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same glossy green on both sides long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven on an unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds on a pedicel long. Mature buds are oval to pear-shaped, about long and wide with a rounded operculum, usually with a small point on the tip. Flowering occurs between August and November and the flowers are white or creamy-white. The fruit is a woody conical to cup-shaped capsule long and wide on a pedicel long with the valves deeply enclosed in the fruit.Taxonomy and naming
Eucalyptus cuprea was first formally described in 1993 by Ian Brooker and Stephen Hopper from a specimen collected by Brooker north of the Murchison River in 1984. The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "coppery" in reference to the seasonal colour of the smooth bark.Eucalyptus cuprea belongs in Eucalyptus subgenus Symphyomyrtus section Adnataria. Within the Adnataria section, E. cuprea is part of a subgroup, series Buxeales which are all found in south-eastern Australia, with only three occurring in Western Australia, those being E.cuprea, E. absita and E. lucasii. All three have inflexed stamens which separates them from the eastern species.