Eucalyptus capillosa
Eucalyptus capillosa, commonly known as wheatbelt wandoo, or mallee wandoo, is a species of tree or mallee that is endemic to Western Australia. It has smooth, grey bark, lance-shaped to elliptic adult leaves, spindle-shaped flower buds in groups of nine to thirteen, white flowers and barrel-shaped to cylindrical fruit. Description. "Eucalyptus capillosa" is a tree or mallee that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. It has smooth, sometimes powdery grey bark with pink or pale orange patches. The leaves on young plants are lance-shaped, glaucous, long and wide. Adult leaves  are the same dull green on both sides, linear to elliptic, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of nine, eleven or thirteen on a peduncle long, the individual flowers on pedicels long. The mature buds are spindle-shaped, long and wide with a conical operculum about twice as long as the floral cup and the same width at the join. The flowering period is from December to May and the flowers are white. The fruit is a conical to barrel-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves usually  level with the rim. "Eucalyptus capillosa" is a closely related and very similar to "E. wandoo" but differs in having hairy seedlings with more leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and adult leaves that are green rather than blue-green or glaucous. Taxonomy and naming. "Eucalyptus capillosa" was first formally described by the botanists Ian Brooker and Stephen Hopper in 1991 from a specimen near Merredin and the description was published in the journal "Nuytsia". The specific epithet ("capillosa") is a Latin word meaning "hairy", referring to the hairy seedlings. Brooker and Hopper described two subspecies that have been accepted by  the Australian Plant Census: The name "polyclada" is derived from the Ancient Greek words "polys" meaning "many" and "klados" meaning "branch", "twig" or "stem", referring to the mallee habit of this subspecies. Distribution and habitat. Wheatbelt wandoo (subspecies "capillosa") is found in the central and eastern wheatbelt where it grows in low, open heath, mainly east of Pithara, Kellerberrin, Western Australia and Corrigin. Mallee wandoo (subspecies "polyclada") grows on gravelly slopes in tall mallee in the central wheatbelt from Pithara to near Hyden and Lake Grace. "Eucalyptus capillosa" often forms open woodlands with a diverse understorey. Other species found in  the upper storey include "E. salmonophloia" and occasionally "E. salubris", "E. loxophleba" subsp. "loxophleba" and "E. transcontinentalis". Conservation status. This eucalypt is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.