''Eucalyptus tereticornis'', commonly known as forest red gum, blue gum or red irongum, is a species of tree that is native to eastern Australia and southern New Guinea. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, nine or eleven, white flowers and hemispherical fruit.

Description

''Eucalyptus tereticornis'' 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 ...

. The trunk is straight, usually unbranched for more than half of the total height of the tree and has a girth of up to dbh. Thereafter, limbs are unusually steeply inclined for a ''Eucalyptus'' species. The bark is shed in irregular sheets, resulting in a smooth trunk surface coloured in patches of white, grey and blue, corresponding to areas that shed their bark at different times. 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 dull bluish green, egg-shaped leaves that are long and wide. Adult leaves are the same shade of green on both sides, lance-shaped to curved, long and wide, tapering at the base to a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s in groups of seven, nine or eleven on an unbranched peduncle long, the individual 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 an elongated oval shape, long and wide with a conical to horn-shaped operculum that is much longer than the

floral cup In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube. It ...

. Flowering has been recorded in most months and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, hemispherical capsule long and wide with the valves prominently protruding.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eucalyptus tereticornis'' was first formally described 1795 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 ''

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 pub ...

'' from specimens collected in 1793 from

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...

surgeon and naturalist John White. (Smith's volume was the botanical part of ''Zoology and Botany of New Holland''. The zoological part was written by

George Shaw George Shaw may refer to: * George Shaw (biologist) (1751–1813), English botanist and zoologist * George B. Shaw (1854–1894), U.S. Representative from Wisconsin * George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), Irish playwright * George C. Shaw (1866–196 ...

.) 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, bot ...

(''tereticornis'') is from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

words ''teres'' (becoming ''tereti-'' in the combined form) meaning "

terete Terete is a term in botany used to describe a cross section that is circular, or like a distorted circle, with a single surface wrapping around it.Lichen Vocabulary, Lichens of North America Information, Sylvia and Stephen Sharnoff/ref> This is u ...

" and ''cornu'' meaning "horn", in reference to the horn-shaped operculum. In 1999

Ian Brooker Murray Ian Hill Brooker AM (2 June 1934 – 25 June 2016), better known as Ian Brooker, was an Australian botanist. He was widely recognised as the leading authority on the genus ''Eucalyptus''. Ian Brooker was born in Adelaide, South Australi ...

and

Andrew Slee Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

described two subspecies and in 2013 Anthony Bean described a further two, and the names of these four subspecies are 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 ...

: * ''Eucalyptus tereticornis'' subsp. ''basaltica'' A.R.Bean has opercula that are not expanded at the base, juvenile leaves that are dull bluish, egg-shaped to round, up to one to two times as long as broad, and pedicels long; * ''Eucalyptus tereticornis'' subsp. ''mediana'' Brooker & Slee has opercula that are not expanded at the base, juvenile leaves that are dull bluish, egg-shaped to round, up to one to two times as long as broad, and pedicels long; * ''Eucalyptus tereticornis'' subsp. ''rotunda'' A.R.Bean has opercula that are not expanded at the base, juvenile leaves that are green, round and up to 1.2 times as long as broad; * ''Eucalyptus tereticornis'' Sm. subsp. ''tereticornis'' has opercula expanded at the base and juvenile leaves that are lance-shaped to egg-shaped, and two to three times longer than wide.

Distribution and habitat

The species has a wide distribution, occurring over the widest range of

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

s of any ''Eucalyptus'' species, occurring from southern

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

at latitude 15°S, to southeastern

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

at latitude 38°S. The forest red gum is one of the key

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...

species of the threatened Cumberland Plain Woodlands. Subspecies ''basaltica'' grows in eucalypt woodland from Kroombit Tops to near Sydney with a disjunct population in the

Carnarvon Range The Carnarvon Range is a mountain range in Central Queensland, Australia. It is a plateau section of the Great Dividing Range. The Carnarvon Range is 160 km in length. Geography North eastern parts of the range have formed a plateau kno ...

. Subspecies ''mediana'' 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 Victoria where it grows near river banks, wetlands, low hills and plains. Subspecies ''rotunda'' is endemic to a small area near

Mitchell Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territo ...

in Queensland, growing along creek banks. Subspecies ''tereticornis'' is the most widely distributed of the four subspecies and grows in open forest from the

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

in Queensland, to near Bega in southern New South Wales and as far inland as

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

. It is also known from the

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

Oro Province Oro Province, formerly (and officially still) Northern Province, is a coastal province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Popondetta. The province covers 22,800 km2, and has 176,206 inhabitants (2011 census). The province shares la ...

s in Papua New Guinea.

Uses

The tree has a strong, hard and durable heartwood, with a density of about 1100 kg m⁻³. It is used for construction in heavy engineering, such as for railway sleepers. The leaves of ''E. tereticornis'' are used in the production of

cineole Eucalyptol is a monoterpenoid. A colorless liquid, it is a bicyclic ether. Eucalyptol has a fresh mint-like smell and a spicy, cooling taste. It is insoluble in water, but miscible with organic solvents. Eucalyptol makes up ~70% - 90% of eucal ...

based

eucalyptus oil Eucalyptus oil is the generic name for distilled oil from the leaf of ''Eucalyptus'', a genus of the plant family Myrtaceae native to Australia and cultivated worldwide. Eucalyptus oil has a history of wide application, as a pharmaceutical, ant ...

.Boland, D.J., Brophy, J.J., and A.P.N. House, ''Eucalyptus Leaf Oils'', 1991,

Gallery

File:Eucalyptus tereticornis - adult leaves.jpg, Adult leaves File:Eucalyptus tereticornis - trunk bark.jpg, Trunk bark File:Eucalyptus tereticornis - trunk.jpg, Trunk File:Eucalyptus tereticornis - upper branches.jpg, Upper branches File:Eucalyptus tereticornis - buds.jpg, Buds File:Eucalyptus tereticornis flowers, capsules, buds and foliage.jpeg, Inflorescence File:Eucalyptus tereticornis - fruit.jpg, Fruit

References