Eucalyptus diminuta
Eucalyptus diminuta, commonly known as the spring mallee, is a species of mallee that is endemic to south-west of Western Australia. It has smooth, silvery to greyish bark, sometimes with rough flaky bark near the base, lance-shaped adult leaves, pendulous, elongated flower buds arranged in groups of seven, creamy white flowers and cup-shaped to bell-shaped fruit.
Description
Eucalyptus diminuta is a mallee that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has smooth silvery to greyish bark, sometimes with a short stocking of rough flaky bark near the base. Young plants and coppice regrowth have dull, bluish, egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves long and wide. Adult leaves are lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The buds are arrange in groups of seven on a thin, pendulous, unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds on a pedicel long. Mature buds are elongated with a rounded tip, long and wide with a conical to horn-shaped operculum. Flowering occurs between July and November and the flowers are creamy white. The fruit is a woody, conical to cup-shaped or bell-shaped capsule long wide with the valves near rim level.Taxonomy and naming
Eucalyptus diminuta was first formally described by the botanists Ian Brooker and Stephen Hopper in 2002 in the journal Nuytsia. The type specimen was collected by Brooker near Glenfield on the road to Yuna. The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "diminished", referring to the size of the plants, its buds and fruit compared to the related E. stowardii.This species is part of the Eucalyptus subgenus Symphyomyrtus in the section Bisectae and the subsection Glandulosae. It is closely related to E. stowardii.