Eucalyptus rhodantha

Rose mallee
Flower and fruit
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Myrtales
Family:	Myrtaceae
Genus:	Eucalyptus
Species:	E. rhodantha
Binomial name
Eucalyptus rhodantha Blakely & H.Steedman[2]
Approximate native range of E. rhodantha[1][3]
Synonyms[4]
Eucalyptus rhodantha var. petiolaris

Eucalyptus rhodantha, commonly known as rose mallee^[5] or rose gum,^[3] is a species of straggly mallee or shrub native to parts of Western Australia. It has smooth bark and a crown composed entirely of circular to heart-shaped juvenile leaves arranged in opposite pairs and attached directly to the stems with no stalks. The flower buds appear singly in the leaf axils and are red, the fruits hemispherical to conical and pendent. The rose mallee is grown as an ornamental shrub suitable for gardens in hot and dry climates. It is found more often in urban gardens and cultivation than in the wild and is readily available in seed form.

E. rhodantha was first formally described in 1938 by the Australian botanists and collectors William Blakely and Henry Steedman from material collected by Steedman near Gunyidi, Western Australia in 1934. As of December 2022^[update], Plants of the World Online listed the formerly accepted Eucalyptus rhodantha var. petiolaris as a taxonomic synonym of E. rhodantha.

The species has a limited range in western parts of Western Australia and is known only from parts of the northern wheatbelt where a few remnant stands remain near Three Springs and Watheroo. It was given a vulnerable listing in 2000 by the Parliament of Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as of 2019^[update].