About Eucalyptus decipiens Endl.
Eucalyptus decipiens Endl. is a mallee or small tree that typically reaches a height of 1.5–15 m and a width of 3–6 m, and it forms a lignotuber. This species has a variable covering of rough, flaky, greyish-brown ribbony bark, along with smooth grey to pinkish bark. Young plants and coppice regrowth have dull bluish green leaves that range from broadly elliptic to almost round, measuring 20–65 mm long and 20–50 mm wide. Adult leaves are alternately arranged, thick, dull, and grey-green, with a lance shape and a hook-like tip. These adult leaves measure 55–125 mm long and 10–25 mm wide, growing from a flattened petiole that is 4–22 mm long. Flower buds are arranged in groups of between eleven and twenty one on a peduncle 3–12 mm long; individual buds are either sessile or born on a pedicel up to 3 mm long. Mature buds are oval to spindle-shaped, 7–12 mm long and 3.5–5 mm wide, with a conical to beaked operculum. Flowering occurs between August and January, and the flowers are creamy white. The fruit is a woody conical to flattened hemispherical capsule that is 4–6 mm long and 5–9 mm wide. This species, commonly called redheart, is found on sandplains, hills, and along the edges of swamps in the Wheatbelt, South West, and Great Southern regions of Western Australia, where it grows in clay, loam, or sandy soils over laterite.
