Eucalyptus fraseri
Eucalyptus fraseri, commonly known as Balladonia gum, is a species of tree or mallet that is endemic to Western Australia. It has smooth white to greyish bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, white flowers and cup-shaped, conical or hemispherical fruit. Description. "Eucalyptus fraseri" is a tree or mallet that typically grows to a height of but does not form a lignotuber. It has smooth white to greyish bark that is shed in ribbons, sometimes with rough, dark bark near the base. Young plants and coppice regrowth have dull  bluish to glaucous, petiolate leaves that are egg-shaped, long and wide. Adult leaves are the same glossy green on both sides when mature, lance-shaped or curved, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven or nine on a thick, unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds sessile or on pedicels up to long. Mature buds are oval, long and wide with a conical operculum that is often striated. Flowering occurs between January and March or April and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, cup-shaped , conical or hemispherical capsule long and wide with the valves near rim level. Taxonomy and naming. Balladonia gum was first formally in 1972 by Ian Brooker in the journal "Nuytsia" and was given the name "Eucalyptus conglobata" subsp. "fraseri". Brooker collected the type specimen near Balladonia. In 1976, Brooker raised the subspecies to species status as "Eucalyptus fraseri". The specific epithet ("fraseri") honours Sir Malcolm Fraser, Surveyor General of Western Australia from 1872 to 1883. In 2001, Lawrie Johnson and Ken Hill described two subspecies and the names have been accepted by the Australian Plant Census: Distribution and Habitat. "Eucalyptus  fraseri" grows in open shrubland on open plains, low dunes and hilly areas between Norseman, Scaddan and Balladonia growing in calcareous loam or sandy soils over limestone. Subspecies "melanobasis" has a distribution restricted to the upper parts of the Fraser Range. Conservation status. Subspecies "fraseri" is classified as "not threatened" but subspecies "melanobasis" is classified as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife, meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.