Eucalyptus comitae-vallis

Eucalyptus comitae-vallis is a mallee, rarely a tree, that typically grows to a height of and forms a lignotuber. The bark is rough, ribbony and grey on the trunks and larger branches then smooth and pinkish grey yellow-green above. Leaves on young plants and coppice regrowth are dull, greyish, long and wide and always have a petiole. Adult leaves are linear to narrow lance-shaped, the same more or less glossy green on both sides, long and wide on a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in groups of seven, nine or eleven in leaf axils on a peduncle long, the individual buds on a pedicel long. Mature buds are cylindrical to narrow pear-shaped, long and wide with a rounded to flattened operculum with a short beak. Flowering occurs from February to April and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, barrel-shaped to conical or cup-shaped capsule long and wide on a pedicel long and with the valves at rim level. ==Taxonomy==

Eucalyptus comitae-vallis was first formally described in 1923 by Joseph Maiden from a specimen collected from Comet Vale by John Thomas Jutson. The description was published in Maiden's book, A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus. The specific epithet (comitae-vallis) is the latinised version of the type location. In 1934, William Blakely described Eucalyptus brachycorys but the name is considered by the Australian Plant Census to be a synonym. ==Distribution==

Comet Vale mallee is mainly found between Menzies and Kalgoorlie in the Mid West, Wheatbelt and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia where it grows in sandy-clay-loamy soils in open shrubland. ==Conservation status==

This eucalypt is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife. ==See also==