About Eucalyptus albopurpurea (Boomsma) D.Nicolle
Eucalyptus albopurpurea (Boomsma) D.Nicolle is most often a mallee that grows up to 5 metres (20 feet) tall, but sometimes grows as a tree reaching 5 to 18 metres (20 to 60 feet) in height. This species has a lignotuber. Its lower trunk has rough, loose, fibrous bark, while the bark on higher sections of the plant is smooth, ranges in colour from coppery to pinkish grey, and is shed in strips. Leaves on young plants and coppice regrowth grow in opposite pairs, have a broad lance-shaped to egg-shaped outline, measure 40–110 mm (2–4 in) long and 23–47 mm (0.9–2 in) wide, and are the same dull bluish green colour on both sides. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, are lance-shaped, measure 70–140 mm (3–6 in) long and 12–30 mm (0.5–1 in) wide, and grow on a petiole 10–20 mm (0.4–0.8 in) long. Adult leaves are the same glossy dark green colour on both sides. Flower buds are arranged in branching inflorescences on a peduncle 7–20 mm (0.3–0.8 in) long, with seven to eleven flowers per umbel. Mature buds are club-shaped to oblong, measure 6–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide, and grow on a pedicel up to 4 mm (0.16 in) long. The operculum is conical to rounded. Flowers, which can be white, pink, mauve, or purple, open in most months of the year. The fruit is cup-shaped, barrel-shaped, or roughly cylindrical, and measures 6–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) long and 5–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide. This eucalyptus species is only found on Kangaroo Island and the southern tip of the Eyre Peninsula, where it grows on sandhills near the ocean and around seasonally wet areas.
