Summer red mallee facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Summer red mallee |
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| Subspecies socialis in the Gawler Ranges | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Eucalyptus |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: |
E. s. subsp. socialis
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| Trinomial name | |
| Eucalyptus socialis subsp. socialis D.Nicolle
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The Eucalyptus socialis subsp. socialis, often called the summer red mallee, is a special type of mallee tree. It grows only in inland south-eastern Australia. This tree usually has rough bark at the bottom of its trunk. Higher up, its bark is smooth. It has long, narrow adult leaves. Its flower buds grow in groups of seven to eleven. The flowers are a pale creamy white. After flowering, it produces fruit that looks like a barrel, urn, or a small ball.
What Does It Look Like?
The Summer red mallee is a mallee tree. This means it has many stems growing from a woody base called a lignotuber. It usually grows to be about 3–12 m (9.8–39.4 ft) tall. The bark at the bottom of the trunk is rough and stringy. Higher up, the bark is smooth and dull grey to cream-colored.
Its adult leaves are a dull or slightly shiny bluish-green. They are narrow and shaped like a spear. Each leaf is about 65–125 mm (2.6–4.9 in) long and 20–21 mm (0.79–0.83 in) wide. They also have a stalk (called a petiole).
The flower buds grow where the leaves meet the stem (called leaf axils). They usually appear in groups of seven to eleven. These groups are on a single stalk (a peduncle) that is 4–18 mm (0.16–0.71 in) long. Each individual bud has its own small stalk (a pedicel) that is 2–8 mm (0.079–0.315 in) long.
When the buds are ready to open, they are about 8–13 mm (0.31–0.51 in) long and 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) wide. They have a horn-shaped cap (called an operculum). This cap is longer than the base of the flower (the floral cup). The flowers themselves are a pale creamy white. After the flowers, the tree produces woody fruit. These fruits are shaped like a barrel, an urn, or a sphere. They are about 4.5–7 mm (0.18–0.28 in) long and wide.
How It Got Its Name
The Summer red mallee was officially described in 2005. This was done by a scientist named Dean Nicolle. He wrote about it in a scientific journal called Australian Systematic Botany.
Where Does It Grow?
The Summer red mallee grows in mallee areas. It often grows in soils that have a lot of lime or chalk (called calcareous soils). You can often find it growing with other types of eucalypt trees. Some of these include E. dumosa, E. gracilis, E. oleosa, and E. porosa.
This tree is found in the drier parts of south-eastern South Australia. It also grows in north-western Victoria. You can even find it as far east as Nyngan in New South Wales.
