Eucalyptus tetraptera

Eucalyptus tetraptera is low, straggly mallee that typically grows to a height of and a similar width. It usually has a single low branching trunk with smooth, grey or whitish-grey bark. Young plants and coppice regrowth have egg-shaped to broadly elliptical leaves that are long and wide and petiolate. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same shade of glossy green on both sides, thick, lance-shaped to oblong, long and wide, the base tapering to a narrowly flattened petiole long. The flower buds are arranged singly in leaf axils on a rigidly down-turned peduncle long, the peduncle often wider than long. Mature buds are cubic with broad, curved wings, long and wide with a pyramid-shaped operculum long. Flowering occurs from late winter to mid summer and the flowers are red to pink. The fruit is a woody, red, sessile, oblong capsule, long and wide including the wings on each corner. ==Taxonomy and naming==

Eucalyptus tetraptera was first formally described by the Russian botanist Nikolai Turczaninow in 1849 in the journal, Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou from specimens collected in 1848 by James Drummond. The specific epithet (tetraptera) is from ancient Greek words meaning "four" and "winged" referring to the fruit of this species. ==Distribution and habitat==

The distribution of the square-fruited mallee is limited to coastal sandplains where it is also found among granite outcrops of southern Western Australia, north from the Stirling Ranges and south to around Albany east to Israelite Bay in the Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions where it grows in white or grey sandy soils in heath. ==Conservation status==

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

E. tetraptera is one of the most bizarre of the eucalypts with its spectacular, large, red buds and fruit. A popular ornamental, it grows well in full sun in semi-arid climates but is slower growing in cooler climates. It is smog and frost resistant and can be kept in containers. As the plant becomes straggly with age it can be cut back to ground level to rejuvenate. The plant is commercially available as seedlings or as seeds. As for most Eucalypts, the seeds will germinate readily. ==See also==