''Angophora costata'', commonly known as Sydney red gum, rusty gum or smooth-barked apple, is a species of tree that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to eastern Australia. Reaching in height, the species has distinctive smooth bark that is pinkish or orange-brown when new and fades to grey with age. Its lance-shaped leaves are arranged in opposite pairs along the stems, with white or creamy white flowers appearing from October to December. The flower buds are usually arranged in groups of three, followed by ribbed, oval or bell-shaped fruit.

Description

''Angophora costata'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...

. It has smooth pinkish or orange-brown bark that weathers to grey and is shed in small scales. Young plants and

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...

regrowth have sessile, elliptical to egg-shaped leaves

arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...

in opposite pairs with a stem-clasping base, long and wide. Adult leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, glossy green but paler on the lower surface, lance-shaped or curved, long and wide on a petiole long. New leaf growth is strongly tinted with red. The flower buds are arranged on the ends of branchlets on a branched peduncle long, each branch of the peduncle with usually three buds on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

long. Mature buds are oval to globe-shaped, up to long and wide. There are five

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s up to long and the

petal Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corolla''. Petals are usuall ...

s are white to creamy white with a green keel, long and wide. Flowering occurs from October to December. The fruit is a oval or bell-shaped capsule up to long and wide. New seedlings have petiolate round

cotyledon A cotyledon (; ; ; , gen. (), ) is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant, and is defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first to appear from a germinating seed." The numb ...

leaves 1.5 cm wide and long.

Taxonomy and naming

Sydney red gum was first formally described in 1788 by German botanist

Joseph Gaertner Joseph Gaertner (12 March 1732 – 14 July 1791) was a German botanist, best known for his work on seeds, ''De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum'' (1788-1792). Biography He was born in Calw, and studied in Göttingen under Albrecht von Haller. ...

and given the name ''Metrosideros costata'' in his book ''

De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum ''De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum'', also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Fruct. Sem. Pl.'', is a three-volume botanic treatise by Joseph Gaertner. The first volume was published in December 1788. The second volume was published ...

'', from material collected by surveyor David Burton around Port Jackson. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

(''costata'') is a Latin word meaning "ribbed". English botanist

Richard Anthony Salisbury Richard Anthony Salisbury, FRS (born Richard Anthony Markham; 2 May 1761 – 23 March 1829) was a British botanist. While he carried out valuable work in horticultural and botanical sciences, several bitter disputes caused him to be ostracised ...

named it ''Metrisoderos apocynifolia'' in his 1796 work ''Prodromus stirpium in horto ad Chapel Allerton vigentium''. Spanish taxonomist

Antonio José Cavanilles Antonio José Cavanilles (16 January 1745 – 5 May 1804) was a leading Spanish taxonomic botanist of the 18th century. He named many plants, particularly from Oceania. He named at least 100 genera, about 54 of which were still used in 2004 ...

erected the new genus ''Angophora'' in 1797 in his book ''Icones et Descriptiones Plantarum'', giving the species the name ''Angophora lanceolata''. English botanist

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

used this last name in his ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume flora of Australia published be ...

'' in 1867. English botanist

James Britten James Britten (3 May 1846 – 8 October 1924) was an English botanist. Biography Born in Chelsea, London, he moved to High Wycombe in 1865 to begin a medical career. However he became increasingly interested in botany, and began writing papers ...

changed the name to ''Angophora costata'' in the ''

Journal of Botany, British and Foreign ''Journal of Botany, British and Foreign'' is a monthly journal that was published from 1863 to 1942, and founded by Berthold Carl Seemann Berthold Carl Seemann (25 February 1825, in Hanover, Germany – 10 October 1871, in Nicaragua, Centra ...

'' in 1916. In 1986,

Gregory John Leach Gregory may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gregory (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gregory (surname), a surname Places Australia *Gregory, Queensland, a town in the Shire of ...

described three subspecies in the journal '' Telopea'' and two names have been accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

: * ''Angophora costata'' (Gaertn.) Britten subsp. ''costata'' has a

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

floral cup and fruit mostly less than wide; * ''Angophora costata'' subsp. ''euryphylla'' L.A.S.Johnson ex G.J.Leach has a hairy floral cup and fruit more than wide. It is found only in a small area including

Putty Putty is a material with high plasticity, similar in texture to clay or dough, typically used in domestic construction and repair as a sealant or filler. Although some types of putty (typically those using linseed oil) slowly polymerise and be ...

, Howes Valley and Judge Dowling Range in central New South Wales. Genetic analysis published in 2021 showed it not to be distinct from subsp. ''costata''. A third subspecies, subsp. ''leiocarpa'' was reclassified as a separate species ''

Angophora leiocarpa ''Angophora leiocarpa'', commonly known as rusty gum, is a species of small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has smooth bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds usually in groups of thr ...

''. A phylogenetic analysis of the genus published in 2021 confirmed its genetic distinctness from the two ''costata'' subspecies. Recent genetic work has been published showing ''

Angophora ''Angophora'' is a genus of nine species of trees and shrubs in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Endemic to eastern Australia, they differ from other eucalypts in having juvenile and adult leaves arranged in opposite pairs, sepals reduced to projec ...

'' to be more closely related to ''Eucalyptus'' than ''

Corymbia ''Corymbia'', commonly known as bloodwoods, is a genus of about one hundred species of tree that, along with ''Eucalyptus'', ''Angophora'' and several smaller groups, are referred to as eucalypts. Until 1990, corymbias were included in the gen ...

'', and the name ''Eucalyptus apocynifolia'' has been proposed for this species if it were to be placed in the genus ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as ...

''. This has not been taken up by the botanical community. Common names include Sydney red gum, rusty gum, smooth-barked apple, and smooth-barked angophora. Aboriginal people from the Sydney region knew the tree as ''kajimbourra''.

Distribution and habitat

''Angophora costata'' grows in sandy soil, often over

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

and occurs naturally in Queensland and New South Wales. It is widely distributed in south-eastern Queensland and disjunctly in the

White Mountains National Park White Mountains is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 1156 km northwest of Brisbane, and 140 km south-west of Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by r ...

. In New South Wales it mainly occurs in coastal areas south from

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

to Narooma and as far west as the Blue Mountains. It is found from sea level to an altitude of in areas of predominantly summer rainfall receiving a year. Maximum temperatures across its range vary from and minimum temperatures from , with anywhere from 0 to 50 days of frost. In Victoria it is a commonly planted ornamental and is

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

in some places. It grows in open forest and woodland, in association with such species as Sydney peppermint (''

Eucalyptus piperita ''Eucalyptus piperita'', commonly known as Sydney peppermint and urn-fruited peppermint, is a small to medium forest tree native to New South Wales, Australia. Description It has grey, rough and finely fibrous bark on its trunk, but its branche ...

''), bangalay ('' E. botryoides''), grey gum ('' E. punctata''), blue-leaved stringybark ('' E. agglomerata''), white mahogany ('' E. acmenoides''), broad-leaved white mahogany ('' E. umbra''), large-fruited red mahogany ('' E. scias''), red bloodwood (''

Corymbia gummifera ''Corymbia gummifera'', commonly known as red bloodwood, is a species of tree, rarely a mallee, that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has rough, tessellated bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups o ...

''), yellow bloodwood ('' C. eximia''), pink bloodwood ('' C. intermedia'') lemon-scented gum ('' C. citriodora''), turpentine (''

Syncarpia glomulifera ''Syncarpia glomulifera'', commonly known as the turpentine tree, or yanderra, is a tree of the family Myrtaceae native to New South Wales and Queensland in Australia, which can reach in height. It generally grows on heavier soils. The cream fl ...

''), forest oak (''

Allocasuarina torulosa ''Allocasuarina torulosa'', the rose she-oak or forest oak, is a tree which grows in sub-rainforest (just outside the main forest area) of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. There, it is typically found on coastal footslopes, hills, and ...

''), and cypress pines ('' Callitris'' species), and in hind dune communities with wedding bush (''

Monotoca elliptica ''Monotoca elliptica'', the tree broom heath, is a plant in the family Ericaceae, found in south-eastern Australia. Description Monotoca elliptica is a long-lived species which may grow for more than a hundred years. The plant is often seen a ...

'') and burrawang (''

Macrozamia communis ''Macrozamia communis'' is an Australian cycad found on the east coast of New South Wales. The common name for the species is burrawang, a word derived from the Daruk Australian Aboriginal language; this name is also often applied to other spec ...

'').

Ecology

''Angophora costata'' trees can live over 100 years. The species responds to bushfire by resprouting from epicormic buds and its lignotuber; shoots on branches of older specimens arise a month, while shoots resprout from the trunk and base young plants within a month of a hot fire. Seedlings appear within 9 to 10 months. The tree is parasitised by the long-flowered mistletoe ('' Dendrophthoe vitellina''). The flowers are eaten by the

grey-headed flying fox The grey-headed flying fox (''Pteropus poliocephalus'') is a megabat native to Australia. The species shares mainland Australia with three other members of the genus ''Pteropus'': the little red '' P. scapulatus'', spectacled '' P. conspicill ...

(''Pteropus poliocephalus'') and

little red flying fox The little red flying-fox (''Pteropus scapulatus'') is a megachiropteran bat native to northern and eastern Australia. The species weighs about half a kilogram, one US pound, and is the smallest species of ''Pteropus'' in mainland Australia. '' ...

(''P. scapulatus''), while the seed is eaten by the

crimson rosella The crimson rosella (''Platycercus elegans'') is a parrot native to eastern and south eastern Australia which has been introduced to New Zealand and Norfolk Island. It is commonly found in, but not restricted to, mountain forests and gardens. The ...

(''Platycercus elegans''). Although the bark of ''A. costata'' is smooth, many invertebrates are found there. Several spiders in the family Salticidae, including '' Servaea vestita'', and

pseudoscorpion Pseudoscorpions, also known as false scorpions or book scorpions, are small, scorpion-like arachnids belonging to the order Pseudoscorpiones, also known as Pseudoscorpionida or Chelonethida. Pseudoscorpions are generally beneficial to humans sin ...

s live under loose bark. The flattened bug '' Stenocotis depressa'' evades detection by camouflage, and cockroaches and

huntsman spider Huntsman spiders, members of the family Sparassidae (formerly Heteropodidae), are known by this name because of their speed and mode of hunting. They are also called giant crab spiders because of their size and appearance. Larger species sometim ...

s live under the loose bark at the base of the trunk. ''Angophora costata'' is also susceptible to the fungal pathogens '' Quambalaria pitotheka'', '' Aulographina eucalypti'' and ''

Cryptococcus neoformans ''Cryptococcus neoformans'' is an encapsulated yeast belonging to the class Tremellomycetes and an obligate aerobe that can live in both plants and animals. Its teleomorph is a filamentous fungus, formerly referred to ''Filobasidiella neoforman ...

''.

Uses

Use in horticulture

Smooth-barked apple grows well in a variety of situations and can be easily grown from seed in a loose, well-drained seed-raising mixture. Some specimens have straight trunk but others have a more branching habit with twisted trunks. The tree sometimes sheds branches and should not be planted close to buildings.

Timber

The heartwood is hard though not durable. Pale pink-brown in colour, it has a density of 755-1045 kg/m³ and a coarse texture. It is not suitable for use on the ground, though has been used for fencing and rough flooring. The pale sapwood has a width of up to 5 cm (2 in) and is susceptible to attack by borers of the genus ''

Lyctus Lyctus or Lyttos ( Greek: or ), was one of the most considerable cities in ancient Crete, which appears in the Homeric catalogue. Lyttos is now a village in the municipality of Minoa Pediada. Lyctus in mythology According to Hesiod, ''Theogon ...

''.

Honey

This tree produces abundant pollen but little nectar. and the honey produced is not highly regarded.

Significant individuals

Angophora Reserve Angophora Reserve is a nature preserve located in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales. It was once two adjacent reserves formally known as Hudson Park and Angophora Reserve, however the two were merged and are ...

in the Sydney suburb of

Avalon Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the ...

was named after a huge individual, reportedly around 300 years of age. That tree died in the late 20th century. Also in Sydney, the upper

Lane Cove River The Lane Cove River, a northern tributary of the Parramatta River, is a tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary west of Sydney Harbour, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river is a tributary of the Parramatta River, winding thro ...

Valley has several large Sydney red gums, one near Conscript Pass was measured at 45 metres tall. The largest known living tree in New Zealand (241 cm diameter) is located at

Hobsonville Hobsonville is a suburb in West Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. The area was administered by Waitakere City Council until the council was amalgamated into Auckland Council in 2010. Hobsonville Point, formerly the location of t ...

near Auckland.

Gallery

File:Angophora costata - leaves (adult).jpg, Adult leaves File:Angophora costata - inflorescence 01.jpg, Inflorescence File:Starr 020203-0021 Angophora costata.jpg, Fruit with ridges File:Angophora costata - trunk bark.jpg, Trunk bark File:Angophora costata - shedding trunk bark.jpg, Shedding trunk bark File:Angophora costata - upper trunk.jpg, Upper trunk File:Angophora costata Habit.jpg, Twisting habit

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4564056 costata Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Trees of Australia Ornamental trees Plants described in 1788 Taxa named by Joseph Gaertner