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Mt Buffalo sallee
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Myrtales
Family:	Myrtaceae
Genus:	Eucalyptus
Species:	E. mitchelliana
Binomial name
	Eucalyptus mitchelliana; Cambage
Synonyms
	Eucalyptus mitchelli Cambage orth. var.; Eucalyptus mitchellii Cambage nom. illeg.; Eucalyptus stellulata var. alpina Ewart;

Eucalyptus mitchelliana, commonly known as Buffalo sallee,^[2] Mt Buffalo sallee^[3] or Mount Buffalo gum,^[4] is a species of small tree or mallee that is endemic to part of the Mount Buffalo plateau in Victoria, Australia. It has smooth bark, linear to lance-shaped leaves, flower buds in clusters of between seven and eleven, white flowers and cup-shaped to more or less spherical fruit.

Description

Eucalyptus mitchelliana is a tree or mallee that typically grows to a height of 15 m (49 ft) and forms a lignotuber. It has smooth, grey to light grey or sometimes green bark, shedding in patches or strips to give the bark a mottled appearance. Young plants and coppice regrowth have leaves arranged that are in opposite pairs and lance-shaped to curved, 65–115 mm (2.6–4.5 in) long and 9–20 mm (0.35–0.79 in) wide tapering to a very short petiole. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same glossy green on both sides, linear to lance-shaped or curved, 75–150 mm (3.0–5.9 in) long and 6–20 mm (0.24–0.79 in) wide on a petiole 8–21 mm (0.31–0.83 in) long. The flower buds are arranged in star-like clusters of seven, nine or eleven in leaf axils on an unbranched peduncle 1–5 mm (0.039–0.197 in) long, the individual buds sessile. Mature buds are spindle-shaped, 7–10 mm (0.28–0.39 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) wide with a conical to horn-shaped operculum. Flowering occurs between November and January and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, cup-shaped to shortened spherical capsule 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) long and wide with the valves near rim level or below it.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Taxonomy and naming

Eucalyptus mitchelliana was first formally described in 1919 by Richard Hind Cambage in the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales,^[6]^[7] although he initially gave it the name E. mitchelli, a name previously given to a fossil species and therefore an illegitimate name.^[8]^[9] The specific epithet honours "the late Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, Surveyor General, who collected many native plants, and was the second explorer to pass Mount Buffalo".^[7]

Distribution and habitat

Mt Buffalo sallee is endemic to the subalpine zone of the Mount Buffalo where it is locally common in a restricted area on the northern and north-eastern rim of the plateau, growing between massive granite rocks on the edge of slopes. Only three populations are known.^[2]^[3]^[5]

Ecology

Both E. mitchelliana and the similar snow gum E. pauciflora grow in almost pure stands on the Mt Buffalo plateau. Buffalo sallee grows in dry, shallow soils in exposed situations, often exposed to harsh north-easterly winds. It has been suggested that disturbance may be required for populations of this species to become established.^[2]^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b "Eucalyptus mitchelliana". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Lawler, Susan; Burston, Jennifer; Cockayne, Bernard; Smedley, Nigel; Massingham, Peter (1997). "Environmental Determinants of the Buffalo Sallee, Eucalyptus mitchelliana". The Victorian Naturalist. 114: 278–281. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c Chippendale, George M. "Eucalyptus mitchelliana". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Eucalyptus mitchelliana". Euclid: Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b Brooker, M. Ian H.; Slee, Andrew V. "Eucalyptus mitchelliana Mt Buffalo Sallee". Royal Botanic Garden Victoria. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
^ "Eucalyptus mitchelliana". APNI. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
^ ^a ^b Cambage, Richard H. (1919). "Two new species of Eucalyptus". Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. 52: 457–460. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
^ "Eucalyptus mitchellii nom. illeg". APNI. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
^ Cambage, Richard H. (1918). "Addendum slip to be pasted in Journal of the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, Volume LII, p. 457 (1918)". Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. 52: (unnumbered). Retrieved 9 November 2019.
^ Lawler, Susan; Brown, Sarah; Edney, Geoffrey; Howlett, Sharon; Love, Pettina (1998). "Buffalo Sallee at the Back Wall: An Alpine Species Adapted to Fire and Drought". The Victorian Naturalist. 115 (5): 201–205. Retrieved 9 November 2019.