Corymbia

The genus Corymbia includes about 113 species of tree that were classified as eucalypts until the mid-1990s, including the bloodwoods and the ghost gums. The bloodwoods had been recognised as a distinct group within the large and diverse eucalyptus genus since 1867. Molecular research in the 1990s, however, showed that they, along with the ghost gums, are more closely related to the angophoras[?] than to eucalypts, and are probably best regarded as a separate genus. All three genera - Angophora, Corymbia and Eucalyptus - are closely related, often difficult to tell apart, and are still commonly and correctly referred to as "eucalypts".

Some of the better known corymbias are:

• Lemon Scented Gum' (Corymbia citriodora). A tall, smooth-trunked tree native to central and northern Queensland and planted in many other areas, well known for the beauty of its white or light grey trunk and instantly recognisable by the strong lemon scent of its leaves.

• Spotted Gum (C. maculata). Another popular garden tree which sheds its bark in a distinctive irregular round patches which take on a range of different colours from cream through blue-grey to orange, pink or red. Native to coastal NSW and south-east Queensland but planted in many areas, the Spotted Gum is also valued for its tough, fine-grained timber, which is used for tool handles and applications where hardness and resistance to warping is essential. (Such as axle blocks for wooden cart wheels.)

• Corymbia ficifolia, also known as the Red Flowering Gum.

• Marri or Port Gregory Gum (C. calophylla). (See C. ficifolia.)

External links:

• A New Name for the Bloodwood and Ghost Gum Eucalypts (http://www.anbg.gov.au/projects/eucalypts/corymbia)