Eucalyptus major
{{Short description|Species of eucalyptus}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Speciesbox
|name = Grey gum
|image = Eucalyptus major.jpg
|image_caption = Eucalyptus major near Clifton
|status =
|status_system =
|genus = Eucalyptus
|species = major
|authority = (Maiden) Blakely{{cite web |title=Eucalyptus major |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/99127 |website=Australian Plant Census |access-date=23 September 2019}}
|synonyms = Eucalyptus propinqua var. major Maiden
}}
Eucalyptus major, commonly known as grey gum,{{NSW Flora Online|genus=Eucalyptus |species=major|author=K.Hill}} is a species of tree that is endemic to a small area near the New South Wales - Queensland border. It has smooth greyish bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven and conical to cup-shaped fruit.File:Eucalyptus major buds.jpg
Description
Eucalyptus major is a tree that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|20|m}} and forms a lignotuber. It has smooth, blotched greyish bark that is shed in large plates or flakes. Young plants and coppice regrowth have egg-shaped leaves that are a lighter shade of green on the lower side, {{cvt|75-100|mm}} long and {{cvt|25-40|mm}} wide. Adult leaves are lance-shaped to curved, dark green on the upper surface, paler below, {{cvt|90-200|mm}} long and {{cvt|20-40|mm}} wide, tapering to a petiole {{cvt|15-30|mm}} long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven on a flattened, unbranched peduncle {{cvt|7-15|mm}} long, the individual buds sessile or a pedicels up to {{cvt|5|mm}} long. Mature buds are oval to diamond-shaped, {{cvt|6-9|mm}} long and {{cvt|4-5|mm}} wide with a conical operculum. Flowering has been recorded in November and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, conical to cup-shaped capsule {{cvt|3-5|mm}} long and {{cvt|4-8|mm}} wide with the valves protruding prominently above the rim of the fruit.{{cite web |title=Eucalyptus major |url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/eucalyptus_major.htm |publisher=Euclid: Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research |access-date=1 June 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Chippendale |first1=George M. |title=Eucalyptus major |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Eucalyptus%20major |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra |access-date=23 September 2019}}
Taxonomy and naming
This eucalypt was first formally described in 1923 by Joseph Maiden who gave it the name Eucalyptus propinqua var. major and published the description in his book A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus.{{cite web|title=Eucalyptus propinqua var. major|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/455879|publisher=APNI|access-date=23 September 2019}}{{cite book |last1=Maiden |first1=Joseph |title=A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus |date=1923 |publisher=New South Wales Government Printer |location=Sydney |page=504 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/39915666#page/688/mode/1up |access-date=23 September 2019}} In 1934, William Blakely raised the variety to species status as Eucalyptus major, publishing the change in his book A Key to the Eucalypts.{{cite web|title=Eucalyptus major|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/455633|publisher=APNI|access-date=23 September 2019}} The specific epithet (major) is a Latin word meaning "greater".{{cite book |last1=Short |first1=Emma |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=A Primer of Botanical Latin with Vocabulary |url=https://archive.org/details/primerbotanicall00shor |url-access=limited |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, U.K. |isbn=9781107693753 |page=[https://archive.org/details/primerbotanicall00shor/page/n222 207]}}
Distribution and habitat
The grey gum grows in tall forest in coastal areas and nearby hills in south-eastern Queensland, south from the Blackdown Tableland to far northern New South Wales.
Conservation status
This eucalypt is classified as "least concern" in Queensland under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.{{cite web |title=Mountain grey gum - Eucalyptus major |url=https://wetlandinfo.des.qld.gov.au/wetlands/ecology/components/species/?eucalyptus-major |publisher=Queensland Government Department of Environment and Science |access-date=23 September 2019}}