Corymbia ptychocarpa
{{Short description|Species of plant}}
{{speciesbox
|name = Swamp bloodwood
|image = Corymbia ptychocarpa.jpg
|image_caption = At March Fly Glen, Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges
|genus = Corymbia
|species = ptychocarpa
|authority = (F.Muell.) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson{{cite web |title=Corymbia ptychocarpa |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/153729|website=Australian Plant Census |accessdate=24 February 2020}}
|synonyms = Eucalyptus ptychocarpa F.Muell.
}}
File:Corymbia ptychocarpa buds.jpg
File:Corymbia ptychocarpa fruit.jpg
Corymbia ptychocarpa, commonly known as swamp bloodwood or spring bloodwood,{{cite web |title=Corymbia ptychocarpa subsp. ptychocarpa|url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/corymbia_ptychocarpa_subsp._ptychocarpa.htm |publisher=Euclid: Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research |accessdate=6 June 2020}} is a species of tree that is endemic to northwestern Australia. It has rough bark on the trunk and branches, broadly lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, creamy yellow, pink or red flowers, and barrel-shaped, ribbed fruit.
Description
Corymbia ptychocarpa is a tree that typically grows to a height of {{convert|4.5|to|20|m|ft|0}} and has thick, rough, tessellated, brownish bark on the trunk and branches. It has the form of a crooked tree that tends to flop when young and often has drooping branches. Young plants and coppice regrowth have oblong to round or elliptical, later egg-shaped leaves that are {{cvt|60-300|mm}} long, {{cvt|70-130|mm}} wide and petiolate. Adult leaves are leathery, paler on the lower surface, broadly lance-shaped, {{cvt|110-460|mm}} long and {{cvt|27-130|mm}} wide, tapering to a petiole {{cvt|15-40|mm|1}} long. The midrib is pale yellow in contrast to the green lamina and the lateral veins are parallel to each other. The flowers are borne on the ends of branchlets on a branched peduncle {{cvt|10-60|mm|1}} long, each branch of the peduncle with seven buds on pedicels {{cvt|10-34|mm|1}} long. Mature buds are oval to pear-shaped, {{cvt|13-24|mm}} long and {{cvt|11-18|mm}} wide with a rounded to blunt-conical operculum. Flowering occurs from February to May and the flowers are creamy yellow, pink or red. The fruit is a woody, barrel-shaped capsule {{cvt|32-55|mm}} long and {{cvt|26-45|mm}} wide with about eight sharp ribs on the sides and the valves enclosed in the fruit.{{FloraBase|name=Corymbia ptychocarpa |id=17101}}{{cite web|url=https://www.jcu.edu.au/discover-nature-at-jcu/plants/plants-by-scientific-name2/corymbia-ptychocarpa|title=Corymbia ptychocarpa|date=22 September 2021|accessdate=9 October 2016|publisher=James Cook University}}{{cite journal |last1=Hill |first1=Kenneth D. |last2=Johnson |first2=Lawrence A.S. |title=Systematic studies in the eucalypts. 7. A revision of the bloodwoods, genus Corymbia (Myrtaceae) |journal=Telopea |date=13 December 1995 |volume=6 |issue=2–3 |pages=250–252|doi=10.7751/telopea19953017|doi-access=free }}{{cite web |last1=Chippendale |first1=George M. |title=Eucalyptus ptychocarpa |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Eucalyptus%20ptychocarpa |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Canberra |accessdate=24 February 2020}}{{cite web|url=http://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=22377|title=Corymbia ptychocarpa (F.Muell.) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson|work=NT Flora|year=2013|accessdate=9 October 2016|publisher=Northern Territory Government}}
Taxonomy and naming
Swamp bloodwood was first formally described in 1859 by Ferdinand von Mueller, who gave it the name Eucalyptus ptychocarpa and published the description in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany.{{cite web|title=Eucalyptus ptychocarpa|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/455888|publisher=APNI|accessdate=24 February 2020}}{{cite journal |last1=von Mueller |first1=Ferdinand |title=Monograph of the Eucalypti of Tropical Australia |journal=Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany |date=1859 |volume=3 |pages=90–91 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/8353#page/94/mode/1up |accessdate=24 February 2020}} In 1995 Ken Hill and Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson changed the name to Corymbia ptychocarpa.{{cite web|title=Corymbia ptychocarpa|url=https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/562597 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=24 February 2020}}
In the same paper, Hill and Johnson described two subspecies and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
- Corymbia ptychocarpa subsp. aptycha K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson{{cite web |title=Corymbia ptychocarpa subsp. aptycha |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/119499|website=Australian Plant Census |accessdate=24 February 2020}} that differs from the autonym in having the flower buds and fruit not or only indistinctly ribbed.
- Corymbia ptychocarpa (F.Muell.) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson subsp. ptychocarpa.{{cite web |title=Corymbia ptychocarpa subsp. ptychocarpa |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/119451|website=Australian Plant Census |accessdate=24 February 2020}}
Distribution and habitat
Corymbia ptychocarpa is found from the Kimberley region of Western Australia and through the Top End of the Northern Territory to near Doomadgee in far north-western Queensland. It grows in sandy soils and alluvium along watercourses and near springs. In the Northern Territory it occurs on the Arnhem Plateau, Daly Basin, Ord Victoria Plain, Pine Creek and the Victoria Bonaparte biogeographic regions.{{FloraBase|name=Corymbia ptychocarpa subsp. ptychocarpa|id=17102}}
Subspecies aptycha is restricted to the Top End between the Cobourg Peninsula, Yirrkala and El Sharana in Arnhem Land.{{cite web |title=Corymbia ptychocarpa subsp. aptycha|url=http://keyserver.lucidcentral.org:8080/euclid/data/02050e02-0108-490e-8900-0e0601070d00/media/Html/Corymbia_ptychocarpa_subsp._aptycha.htm |publisher=Euclid: Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research |accessdate=24 February 2020}}
It is also grown as a street tree in parts of Queensland, such as Cairns and Townsville.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Commons category}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5173737}}
Category:Flora of the Northern Territory
Category:Flora of Western Australia
Category:Drought-tolerant trees
Category:Myrtales of Australia