''Corymbia gummifera'', commonly known as red bloodwood, is a species of tree, rarely a mallee, 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 elsew ...

to eastern Australia. It has rough, tessellated bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, creamy white flowers and urn-shaped fruit.

Description

''Corymbia gummifera'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of , rarely a mallee, 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 ...

. 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 repeated ...

regrowth have leaves that are paler on the lower surface, egg-shaped to lance-shaped, long and wide, and

petiolate Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, a ...

. Juvenile leaves are opposite on the stem for a few pairs, then disjunct. Adult leaves are glossy dark green, paler on the lower surface, lance-shaped, long and wide, tapering to a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged on the ends of branchlets on a branched peduncle long, each branch of the peduncle with seven 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 pear-shaped, long and wide with a conical to rounded or slightly beaked operculum. Flowering occurs from December to June and the flowers are creamy white. The fruit is a woody urn-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves deeply enclosed in the fruit.

Taxonomy

The red bloodwood was first formally described in 1788 by

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. ...

who gave it the name ''Metrosideros gummifera'' and published the description 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 ...

''. (The name is often given as ''Metrosideros gummifera''

Sol. Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander (19 February 1733 – 13 May 1782) was a Sweden, Swedish naturalist and an Apostles of Linnaeus, apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Solander was the first university-educated scientist to set foot on ...

ex Gaertn., but Gaertner did not ascribe the name to Solander.) The name ''Eucalyptus corymbosa'', published by

James Edward Smith James Edward Smith may refer to: * James Edward Smith (botanist), English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society * James Edward Smith (murderer), American murderer * James Edward Smith (politician), Canadian businessman and mayor of Toronto * ...

in his 1795 ''

A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland ''A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland'', also known by its standard abbreviation ''Spec. Bot. New Holland'', was the first published book on the flora of Australia. Written by James Edward Smith and illustrated by James Sowerby, it was publis ...

'', is regarded as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

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 ...

. ''Eucalyptus corymbosus'', published in 1797 by Cavanilles in his book ''Icones et Descriptiones Plantarum'' is an

orthographical variant In biology, within the science of scientific nomenclature, i.e. the naming of organisms, an orthographical variant (abbreviated orth. var.) in botany or an orthographic error in zoology, is a spelling mistake, typing mistake or writing mistake with ...

. ''Eucalyptus oppositifolia'', published in 1804 by

Desfontaines Desfontaines is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * François-Georges Fouques Deshayes (known as Desfontaines-Lavallée or Desfontaines, 1733-1825), French writer and playwright. * Henri Desfontaines (1876-1931), French film dire ...

is a

nomen nudum In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...

because no description was provided. ''Eucalyptus purpurascens'' var. ''petiolaris'', published in 1828 by

de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

is regarded as a synonym. ''Eucalyptus longifolia'', published in 1920 by

Joseph Maiden Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus ''Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing ...

is an invalid name because it had already been used for a different species. In 1995 Ken Hill and

Lawrie Johnson Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, FAA, (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic botany, botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Garden ...

changed the name to ''Corymbia gummifera''.

Distribution and habitat

''Corymbia gummifera'' mainly occurs on flats and low hills along the coast between the extreme eastern corner of Victoria and south-eastern Queensland. It grows best on moist, rich, loamy soil, but is also commonly found on poorer sandy soils.

Uses

The

heartwood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...

of ''C. gummifera'' is very strong and durable, but has extensive gum lines. It is used for rough construction purposes, such as poles, sleepers, fencing and mining timbers.
''Corymbia gummifera'' may be used as a

rootstock A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to a ...

, onto which the ornamental ''C. ficifolia'' is grafted.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4558294 gummifera Myrtales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of Victoria (Australia) Trees of Australia Plants described in 1788