Eucalyptus celastroides
Eucalyptus celastroides, commonly known by the Noongar name of mirret, is a species of eucalypt that is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a mallee, rarely a tree, and has rough bark on about half of the lower half of its tunk, smooth above, narrow lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, white flowers and urn-shaped fruit. Description. "Eucalyptus celastroides" is a mallee, rarely a tree, and typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has rough, flaky bark for up to half the trunk , then smooth mottled whitish bark above, or sometimes from the base of the trunk. The leaves on young plants and on coppice regrowth are glaucous, egg-shaped to oblong, long and wide. Adult leaves are the same green to bluish green on both sides, narrow lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven or nine on a peduncle long, the individual buds on pedicels long. Mature buds are club-shaped to pear-shaped or oval, long and wide with a rounded operculum with a small point on the tip, or  conical. Flowering occurs between August and January and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, urn-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves enclosed. Taxonomy and naming. "Eucalyptus celastroides" was first formally described by Nikolai Turczaninow in 1852 from a specimen collected by James Drummond. The description was published in the journal "Bulletin de la Classe Physico-Mathématique de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg". The specific epithet ("celastroides") is a reference to the genus "Celastrus". The ending "-oides" is a Latin suffix meaning "likeness". In 1986, Ian Brooker described two subspecies in the journal "Nuytsia  and the names have been accepted by the Australian Plant Census: Distribution and habitat. Mirret is often found on flat or undulating country where it grows in sandy or clayey soils. Subspecies celastroides" has a more easterly distribution than subspecies "virella". The former occurs in the goldfields between Kellerberrin and Norseman, extending almost to Balladonia. Subspecies "virella" occurs mainly in the wheatbelt.