Eucalyptus ficifolia red flowering gum

Eucalyptus ficifolia is a tree growing up to 10 m tall, and like many Eucalyptus species forms a lignotuber (click here to find out what a lignotuber is). It’s commonly known as the red flowering gum and is one of the most widely grown of all eucalypts both in Australia and overseas, typically as street trees and in parks. It can grow larger than 10m when cultivated. It’s a popular tree because of its bright red flowers that also attract lorikeets and honeyeaters.

The bark is generally rough, brown to grey-brown in colour.

It flowers typically in January and February, but has been known to flower from March to as late as September. It produces many bright red flowers, thus its common name (see photo), although can be pinkish or orange.

Its natural habitat is very restricted, found in subcoastal areas south-east of WA, east of Mt Frankland and Walpole, near Albany and in the Stirling Range.

The name Corymbi comes from Latin, corymbium. A “corymb” is a type of floral cluster where all flowers branch from the stem at different levels.

The tree was planted in the Park in 2012.

Sources

Australian Native Plants Society - https://anpsa.org.au/plant_profiles/corymbia-ficifolia/

EUCLID - Eucalypts of Australia Forth Edition (2020). - https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/corymbia_ficifolia.htm

Eucalyptus ficifolia in the Park