Eucalyptus salubris, commonly known as Gimlet, Fluted Gum Tree, Gimlet Gum and Silver-topped Gimlet, is a gum tree endemic to low-rainfall areas of the wheatbelt and goldfields regions of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

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Description

E. salubris grows as a mallee

Mallee (habit)

Mallee is the growth habit of certain eucalypt species that grow with multiple stems springing from an underground lignotuber, usually to a height of no more than ten metres...

, usually from four to 15 metres high, but sometimes as low as two metres or as high as 24 metres. It has smooth, strongly fluted trunks and stems, and white or cream flowers from September to March.

Taxonomy

The species was first published in 1876 by Ferdinand von Mueller

Ferdinand von Mueller

Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...

, based on specimens collected at Queen Victoria Spring by Jess Young

Jess Young

Jess Young was an explorer who accompanied Ernest Giles during his fourth expedition, making some important botanical collections along the way.Little is known of his early life; it is not even certain whether "Jess" was a full given name or an abbreviation...

 during the Giles expedition of May 1875.

There are no subspecies or variety. A variety was published by Joseph Maiden

Joseph Maiden

Joseph Henry Maiden was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the Eucalyptus genus. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Maiden when citing a botanical name.Joseph Maiden was born in St John's Wood, London...

 in 1919 as E. s. subsp. glauca, but this was promoted to species rank as E. ravida in 1991. Hybrids with E. tortilis have been reported.

Distribution and habitat

It has a wide distribution, occurring throughout the Avon Wheatbelt

Avon Wheatbelt

Avon Wheatbelt is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia and part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion.-Further reading:...

 and Coolgardie

Coolgardie (biogeographic region)

Coolgardie is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region and a World Wildlife Fund ecoregion consisting of an area of low hills and plains of infertile sandy soil in Western Australia. -Location and description:...

 biogeographic

Biogeography

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species , organisms, and ecosystems in space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities vary in a highly regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area...

 regions, with outliers as far west as Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 and as far south as Esperance

Esperance, Western Australia

Esperance is a large town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, located on the Southern Ocean coastline approximately east-southeast of the state capital, Perth. The shire of Esperance is home to 9,536 people as of the 2006 census, its major industries are tourism, agriculture,...

. The relief is generally gentle slopes. It grows in a range of soils: red loams, red clay loams, yellow and red sand, and laterite

Laterite

Laterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...

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