Eucalyptus pauciflora subsp. debeuzevillei

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         Jounama Snow Gum

Conservation status: Critically Endangered in Victoria

Etymology:   

• The name Eucalyptus is derived from the Ancient Greek words eu meaning 'good'and kalypto meaning '(I) cover, conceal, hide', referring to the operculum covering the flower buds 

• The specific epithet pauciflora is from the Latin pauciflorus meaning "few-flowered"

• The term pauciflora (few-flowered) is a misnomer, and may originate in an early collected specimen losing its buds in transit

• The epithet (debeuzevillei) presumably honours the collector of the type taxon

Flowers:                  

• The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of between nine and fifteen on an unbranched peduncle 4–13 mm long, the individual buds on pedicels up to 2 mm long

• Mature buds are club-shaped to oblong, 8–12 mm long and 4–6 mm wide with a conical operculum

• Flowering has been recorded in December and January and the flowers are white

Fruit:                         

• The fruit is a woody cup-shaped, barrel-shaped or conical capsule 8–13 mm long and 7–12 mm wide with the valves near rim level or below it

• Subspecies debeuzevillei differs from others in the species in having mature buds that are strongly angular

Leaves:         

• Young plants and coppice regrowth have dull bluish green or glaucous, egg-shaped to broadly lance-shaped leaves that are 60–90 mm long and 30–55 mm wide and petiolate

• Adult leaves are broadly lance-shaped to lance-shaped or curved, 75–180 mm long and 16–50 mm wide on a petiole 12–25 mm long 

Stem & branches: 

• The branchlets are usually glaucous

• The bark is smooth, grey, white, cream-coloured or light brown and often has insect scribbles

Roots:         

Habit:        

• Eucalyptus pauciflora subsp. debeuzevillei is a mallee or tree that typically grows to a height of 12 m and forms a lignotuber

Habitat:   

• High peaks

Distribution:                  

• This subspecies occurs on the highest peaks south from Mount Franklin in the Australian Capital Territory to near Yarrangobilly in New South Wales and Mount Buffalo in Victoria

Additional notes:   

• Taxonomy 

  • Eucalyptus debeuzevillei was first formally described in 1920 by Joseph Maiden in the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, from material collected by Wilfred Alexander de Beuzeville

  • In 1973, Lawrie Johnson and Donald Blaxell reduced the species to a subspecies of E. pauciflora as E. pauciflora subsp. debeuzevillei

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_pauciflora_subsp._debeuzevillei (2024)

• https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/8cfc24e4-7ff3-4047-91f7-aad038f29c08 (2024)