Wp/nys/Gungurru

Gungurru

Gungurru closeup

Gungurra distribution

Gungurru was possibly the Noongar name for the plant with the scientific name Eucalyptus woodwardii, however the name is now applied to another plant Eucalyptus caesia. See the section below il "Confusion about Name". The rest of nidja bibol considers Gungurru as the name for Eucalyptus caesia.

Gungurru, Gungurra, or Gungunnu is the common name for the plant with the scientific name Eucalyptus caesia subsp. caesia, a Eucalypt Mallee plant, only occuring at isolated granite outcrops in the central wheatbelt of Western Australia, for example at Boodjin (Boyagin Rock). Noongar ancestral knowledge indicates that the flower originated here. Separated by considerable distances between these outcrops, the flowers at each rock differ in form wer colour. Although widely cultivated, nidja flower is threatened in the wild. Another English name for Gungurru is Silver Princess, because of the grey or white powder that covers the branches, flower buds wer fruit. At first sight, to people who have not come across nidja plant before, nidja powder can give the impression that the plant is dead!

The name caesia is from the Latin word, caesius, meaning light grey, referring to the greyish appearance of the buds, fruit wer stems.

Confusion about Name

During the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition of 1891–2, Richard Helms gathered specimens of a Eucalyptus that the Indigenous Australians of the area called "Gungurru". nidja was almost certainly Eucalyptus woodwardii, but in 1896 it was misidentified by Mueller wer Tate as Eucalyptus caesia. Nidja led to the incorrect application of the common name "Gungurru" to Eucalyptus caesia, wer to confusion about the species' distribution.^[source?]