Eucalyptus kruseana

Family: Myrtaceae
Distribution: Restricted to three hilly areas east of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
Common Name: Bookleaf mallee
Conservation Status: Not currently listed as threatened under the EPBC Act*. Regarded as rare, but not currently endangered or vulnerable, and classified as 2RC- under the ROTAP * system
Derivation of Name: Eucalyptus…from Greek, eu, well and calyptos, covered referring to the cap which covers the developing flowers.
kruseana…after a German-born pharmacist, John Kruse, who practiced in Melbourne

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General Description:

Eucalyptus kruseana is a straggly mallee in its native habitat – on rocky hills in an arid environment. It is a very distinctive species with its closely-spaced, stemless rounded leaves and greenish yellow flowers. It is not closely related to any other species. The bark is firmly held at the base of the trunk and is smooth on the limbs, bronze to coppery and grey, shedding in ribbons.

Bookleaf mallee is a popular ornamental in drier parts of southern Australia and in central Australia because of its mallee habit, flower colour and unusual leaves. It forms a lignotuber and would be expected to respond to pruning. In cultivation, it forms an attractive small tree which flowers prolifically in late summer in Perth.

Propagation is from seed which germinates readily.

* EPBC Act = Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999;
ROTAP = Rare or Threatened Australian Plants (Briggs and Leigh, 1988)
For further information refer the Australian Plants at Risk page

 

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Eucalyptus kruseana
Photo: Brian Walters

 

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