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Corymbia ficifolia or the Red Flowering Gum (previously known as Eucalyptus ficifolia) is one of the most commonly planted ornamental trees in the broader eucalyptus family. It is native to a very small area of south coastal Western Australia (measured in just tens of kilometres) to the east of Walpole, but is not considered under threat in the wild. Corymbia ficifolia thumbnail - my own picture File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ...
Divisions Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta - liverworts Anthocerotophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum (a fern...
Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also called angiosperms) are a major group of land plants. ...
Orders see text Dicotyledons or dicots are flowering plants whose seed contains two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. ...
Families See text The Myrtales are an order of flowering plants placed within the rosid group of dicotyledons. ...
Genera 130; see list The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. ...
Species See text. ...
In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ...
Baron Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller (German: Müller) (June 30, 1825 - October 10, 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably botanist. ...
Lawrence Johnson (born May 7, 1974 in Norfolk, Va) is a retired pole vaulter from the United States. ...
The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth A tree can be defined as a large, perennial, woody plant. ...
Species About 600; for a full list, see Wikispecies:Eucalyptus Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of trees (rarely shrubs), the members of which dominate the tree flora of Australia. ...
Motto: Cygnis Insignis (Distinguished by its swans) Nickname: Wildflower State Other Australian states and territories Capital Perth Government Governor Premier Const. ...
The common name, "Red Flowering Gum" is often used, but generally not to indicate Corymbia ficifolia in particular as opposed to it and other similar looking trees. The name is also something of a misnomer; all gums flower, many are red, Corymbia ficifolia is not really a "gum" but a bloodwood, and its flowers can be any shade between pale cream, through pink, to red, orange or deep crimson.
In nature Corymbia ficifolia prefers infertile, sandy soils but it is readily adaptable to most warm temperate locations, provided it is not exposed to severe frost or sustained tropical damp. It is an ideal street tree as it is hardy, moderately fast growing, and rarely grows large enough to require pruning.
It is difficult to graft but grows well from seed, typically taking about 7 years before it flowers for the first time and 15-20 years to reach something approaching its full size of anything between 2-8 m. For the home gardener, buying a "red flowering gum" from a nursery is something of an adventure: it may or may not be a ficifolia, and the flower colour does not breed true - there is no way to find out what colour the flowers will be short of planting a seedlings and waiting for it to reach maturity.
Corymbia ficifolia is a close relative of the West Australian Marri or Port Gregory Gum (Corymbia calophylla). The Marri is widespread in southern WA. Although in the wild it can grow much larger than Corymbia ficifolia (up to 50 m tall), under cultivation this size is rare.
The two species can be very difficult to tell apart. There is no single reliable method: it is generally necessary to consider a range of factors, to be aware that they crossbreed readily, and to recall that species is an artificial human concept that nature does not always obey. In biology, a species is the basic unit of biodiversity. ...
Corymbia calophylla tends to have:
- White to pink flowers but varies a great deal.
- Tends to lighter bark.
- Prolific flowering
- Buds generally green
- Leaves often broader relative to length (but very variable).
Corymbia ficifolia: - Tends to have orange to red flowers, but can be almost white, pink, or deep crimson.
- Tends to have darker bark
- Very prolific flowering
- Buds can be any colour: pink, reddish, pale or green.
- Leaves tend to be longer relative to width.
Most individual examples are clearly one species or the other, but even experts cannot always tell the difference, particularly as many cultivated trees are crossbreeds.
Both species are unusual in that they mainly grow only in spring, which means that the flower heads (which blossom in late summer) are outside the bulk of the foliage and very visible. Both species share the habit of flowering heavily only every second year; typically parts of a given tree will flower one year and other parts the next, but this varies greatly: in typical corymbia fashion, each individual tree seems to have its own particular habits.
External links
- Flora of Western Australia s.v. Corymbia ficifolia.
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