Eucalyptus polita

Eucalyptus polita, also known as Parker Range mallet, is a species of mallet or small tree that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has smooth, greyish bark, narrow lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between seven and eleven, white flowers and cup-shaped fruit.

Description
Eucalyptus polita is a mallet or tree that typically grows to a height of 3-10 m but does not form a lignotuber. It has smooth greyish bark that is shed in long ribbons to reveal orange-coloured new bark. Young plants and coppice regrowth have dull green, lance-shaped leaves that are 55-100 mm long and 8-20 mm wide. Adult leaves are the same shade of glossy green on both sides, narrow lance-shaped, 70-120 mm long and 7-15 mm wide, tapering to a petiole 10-20 mm long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven, nine or eleven on a flattened, unbranched peduncle 4-10 mm long, the individual buds sessile or on pedicels up to 1 mm long. Mature buds are oval to more or less cylindrical, 6-7 mm long and about 4 mm wide with a conical, striated operculum. The flowers are white and the fruit is a woody, cup-shaped capsule 4-5 mm long and 4-7 mm wide with the valves near rim level.

Taxonomy and naming
Eucalyptus polita was first formally described in 1993 by Ian Brooker and Stephen Hopper in the journal Nuytsia from material collected by Brooker on the Hyden - Norseman track in 1983. The specific epithet (polita) is from the Latin politus meaning "polished", referring to the bark.

Distribution and habitat
This mallet grows around salt lakes and on flat areas from Forrestania to near Marvel Loch in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie and Mallee biogeographic regions.

Conservation status
This mallee eucalypt is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.