Eucalyptus ovata
{{short description|Species of plant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}
{{Speciesbox
|name = Swamp gum
|image = Eucalyptus ovata.jpg
|image_caption = Eucalyptus ovata in Maranoa Gardens
|status = VU
|status_system = IUCN3.1
|genus = Eucalyptus
|species = ovata
|authority = Labill.{{cite web|title=Eucalyptus ovata|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/68873|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=24 November 2019}}
|synonyms = Eucalyptus muelleri Naudin nom. illeg.
|range_map =E. ovata.JPG
|range_map_caption =E. ovata, field distribution
|}}
Eucalyptus ovata, commonly known as swamp gum or black gum,{{cite web |title=Eucalyptus ovata |url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/eucalyptus_ovata_subsp._ovata.htm |publisher=Euclid: Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research |access-date=31 May 2020}} is a small to medium-sized tree species that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has mostly smooth bark, glossy green, lance-shaped to egg-shaped adult leaves, green flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and conical to bell-shaped fruit.
Description
Eucalyptus ovata is a tree that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|17-30|m}} and forms a lignotuber, but with a variable habit, from a straggly sapling in east Gippsland to stout-boled elsewhere. It has smooth, grey, whitish or pinkish-grey new bark, sometimes with loose rough bark near the base of larger trees. Young plants and coppice regrowth have elliptical to egg-shaped leaves that are {{cvt|30-85|mm}} long and {{cvt|25-60|mm}} wide. Adult leaves are the same shade of glossy green on both sides, lance-shaped to egg-shaped, {{cvt|80-180|mm}} long and {{cvt|16-50|mm}} wide, tapering to a petiole {{cvt|15-33|mm}} long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils on an unbranched peduncle, {{cvt|3-14|mm}} long, the individual buds on pedicels {{cvt|2-4|mm}} long. Mature buds are diamond-shaped, {{cvt|5-9|mm}} long and {{cvt|4-6|mm}} wide with a conical operculum. Flowering mainly occurs from June to November and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, conical to slightly bell-shaped capsule {{cvt|3-8|mm}} long and {{cvt|4-8|mm}} wide with the valves near rim level.{{cite web |last1=Brooker |first1=M. Ian H. |last2=Slee |first2=Andrew V. |title=Eucalyptus ovata |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/0ace770d-d8bf-43f6-be31-dfbf4ae1a4b7 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Victoria |access-date=24 November 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Eucalyptus~ovata|title=Eucalyptus ovata Labill.|last=Hill|first=K.|work=PlantNET|publisher=National Herbarium of New South Wales|access-date=2009-02-10}}Brooker & Kleinig, Field Guide to Eucalypts, Vol 2 South Western and Southern Australia, Bloomings Books, Melbourne, 2001, {{ISBN|1-876473-28-2}}{{cite web |last1=Chippendale |first1=George M. |title=Eucalyptus ovata |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Eucalyptus%20ovata |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra |access-date=24 November 2019}}
Taxonomy and naming
Eucalyptus ovata was first formally described in 1806 by Jacques Labillardière in Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen.{{cite web|title=Eucalyptus ovata|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/454910|publisher=APNI|access-date=24 November 2019}}{{cite book | author=Labillardiere, J.J.H. de |year=1806|title= Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen | volume=2 |pages=13–14 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40882019#page/13/mode/1up | publisher=Ex typographia Dominæ Huzard |location=Paris, France }} The specific epithet (ovata) is from the Latin ovatus, referring to the leaf shape.
In 1916, Joseph Maiden described two varieties of E. ovata in his book, A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus, and the names have been accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
- Eucalyptus ovata var. grandiflora Maiden;{{cite web|title=Eucalyptus ovata var. grandiflora|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/68873|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=24 November 2019}}{{cite book |last1=Maiden |first1=Joseph |title=A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus |date=1916 |publisher=New South Wales Government Printer |location=Sydney |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/68928 |access-date=24 November 2019}}{{rp|146,155|}}
- Eucalyptus ovata Labill. var. ovata.{{rp|148}}{{cite web|title=Eucalyptus ovata var. ovata|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/68942|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=24 November 2019}}
Distribution and habitat
Swamp gum is widespread in south-eastern Australia and is found from the western end of Kangaroo Island and the southern Mount Lofty ranges in the south-east of South Australia, to Tasmania, the southern half of Victoria and to south-eastern New South Wales as far north as Oberon and Hill Top. It grows in grassy woodland in low, temporarily or permanently damp sites.