National Recovery Plan for the Meelup Mallee (Eucalyptus Phylacis)
Julie Patten
Wildlife Management Program No. 155
Department of Conservation and Land Management, July 2004
ISSN 0816-9713
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About the document
Eucalyptus phylacis was originally discovered by Neville Marchant from CALM's Western Australian Herbarium in 1981. The original collection was then made by K.H. Rechinger in 1982. Further collections have since been made but are all from the same location.
Eucalyptus phylacis is currently known from a single clonal population, which comprises around 27 ramets (individual plants within the clone) over a range of around 0.09 hectares. Due to past road maintenance activities the population is split into 4-5 fairly distinct groups (3-4 on the eastern side of the road and a single plant on the western side). The restricted geographic distribution of the population makes the species highly vulnerable to any localised event which could bring about the extinction of the species in the wild.
An Interim Recovery Plan was developed for the species in 2002 (Phillimore et al. 2002). Information collected since that plan was completed has been incorporated into this plan and this document now replaces IRP No.104 Eucalyptus phylacis (Phillimore et al. 2002).
Eucalyptus phylacis is a mallee or small tree to 5 m tall with distinctive coarse, non-fibrous, loose, rough bark overlying thick, corky bark. It is related to E. decipiens but differs in its non-emarginate juvenile leaves, larger buds and fruit, and broadly conical opercula (Brooker and Kleinig 1990). The juvenile leaves are almost round and entire. Adult leaves are concolorous, faintly glossy and blue-grey green. The inflorescence is axillary, with white flowers (Brown et al. 1998).
