Seeds of South Australia
Eucalyptus cyanophylla (Myrtaceae)
Murraylands Mallee
List of species for Eucalyptus
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Seed collecting:
January to December
Herbarium regions:
Eastern, Murray
NRM regions:
South Australian Arid Lands, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin
IBRA regions
LEGEND
South Olary Plain (MDD01)Murray Darling Depression
 Rare   (IUCN: RA d(i,ii))   [edge of habitat]
Murray Mallee (MDD02) 
 Least Concern
Lowan Mallee (MDD04) 
 Rare   (IUCN: RA d(i,ii))   [edge of range]
Murray Scroll Belt (RIV06)Riverina
 Data Deficient
RSCA map:
Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion. Please click the thumbnail map.
AVH map:
Australian distribution map (external link)
SA Census:
Census of South Australian plants (external link)     [genus Eucalyptus]
Name derivation:
 Eucalyptus from the Greek 'eu' meaning well and 'calyptos' meaning covered; alluding to the cap or lid which covers the stamens in the bud. Cyanophylla from the Greek 'cyanos' meaning dark blue and 'phyllon' meaning a leaf; referring to the blue-grey adult leaves.
Distribution:
 Found primarily in the Murray region in South Australia, growing on sandy or sandy-clay soils, usually overlying limestone, in mallee shrubland. Also found in Victoria.
Status:
 Native. Uncommon in South Australia. Rare
Plant description:
 Multi-stemmed trees to 6 m tall with smooth grey to orange-brown bark above and shedding in strips, grey-brown and fibrous towards the base. Adult leaves to 160 mm long and 30 mm wide, alternate, broad-lanceolate, dull blue-green to glaucous. Buds and fruit on individual stalks. Bubs with round to cone-shaped, ribbed cap. Flowers cream. Flowering between July and October.
Fruit type:
 Cone-shaped to cylinder-shaped fruit to 10 mm long and 9 mm wide, ribbed or wrinkled, with disk descending, valves triangular, with narrow points at or just exserted beyond the rim.
Seed type:
 Red-brown ovoid seed to 2 mm long and 1.3 mm wide, shallowly reticulate.
Embryo type:
 Folded.
Seed collecting:
 Collect mature fruits that are dark and hard (difficult to break with a finger nail) with the valves un-open any time of year.
Seed cleaning:
 Leave the fruits in a breathable container in a dry room for at least a week. This allows the valves on the fruit to open and release the seeds. Separate the seeds by placing all the materials into a bucket and shaking it to dislodge the seeds.  Pass the material through a sieve to separate the unwanted material. The finer material will contain both seeds (soft) and frass (hard) usually distinguishable from each other but can be very similar in shape and colour. With finer sieves, the seeds can be separated from the frass but this is not essential for storage or propagation. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place.
Seed viability:
 From one collection, the seed viability was high, at 95%.
Seed germination:
 Seeds are non-dormant, viable seed should germinate readily. 1. Germination 100% on 1% w/v agar, 16/8 dark/light, 15°C. 2. Germination 100% on 1% w/v agar 16/8 dark/light, 20°C. See http://data.kew.org/sid
Seeds stored:
LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)		Number
of plants		Date
collected		Collection number
Collection location		Date
stored		% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA 
MSB		1500 (0.94 g)
2500 (1.58 g)		30-401-Feb-2007DJD762
Murray		1-Aug-200795%-18°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.
Germination table:
DateResultT0T50Pre-treatment | Germination medium | Incubator: Photoperiod / Thermoperiod
Apr-1496%19 d19 d
1% agar;
Incubated under spring/autumn conditions
Apr-1496%19 d19 d
1% agar;
Incubated under winter conditions
Result: Maximum percentage of germination observed.
T0: Number of days before first germinant observed.
T50: Number of days to achieve 50% germination.
Pre-treatment: The initial treatment that the seeds received prior to placement on germination media.
Germination medium: The substrate that seeds were placed on for the duration of the germination experiment.
Incubator conditions:
Photoperiod: The duration of light exposure that the seeds were subject to during a 24 hour period.
Thermoperiod: The constant or diurnal temperatures that seeds were subject to during a 24 hour period.
Winter conditions: 15°C 20 h (3am→11pm); 5°C 4 h (11pm→3am) / 10 h light (8am→6pm); 14 h dark (6pm→8am)
Spring/Autumn conditions: 22°C 12 h (8am→8pm); 10°C 12 h (8pm→8am) / 12 h light (8am→8pm); 12 h dark (8pm→8am)
Summer conditions: 30°C 14 h (6am→8pm); 15°C 10 h (8pm→6am) / 14 h light (6am→8pm); 10 h dark (8pm→6am)