Botanical art
Prior names
Eucalyptus camaldulensis var. camaldulensis, partly
Eucalyptus longirostris
Eucalyptus rostrata
Common names
River Red Gum
Red Gum
Etymology
Eucalyptus from the Greek 'eu' well and 'calyptos' covered; alluding to the cap or lid which covers the stamens in the bud. Camadulensis named after an abandoned monastery in the district of Camalduli in Italy where a tree was grown from seeds collected from south-eastern Australia. Frederick Dehnhardt, Chief Gardener at the Botanic Gardens in Naples used material from this tree to describe the species in 1832. The exact collection location of the seeds is unknown.
Distribution and status
Found in the southern part of South Australia, growing along watercourses, floodplains, grassy woodlands or forest on sandy soils often subject to inundation or shallow soil over sheet limestone. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in the other states.
Herbarium regions: North Western, Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Yorke Peninsula, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Alinytjara Wilurara, Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, Northern and Yorke, South Australian Arid Lands, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Single-stemmed tree to 42 m high with a rough, persistent stocking of bark at the base of the trunk. Juvenile leaves lanceolate to broad-lanceolate, dull, green to bluish. Adult leaves lanceolate to narrow-lancolate to 300 mm long and 25 mm wide. Flowers axillary in umbels of 7-11. Buds smooth to 10 mm long and 7 mm wide, bud-cap strongly beaked, equal in length or longer than the bud-base. Flowers creamy-white. This subspecies is distinguished from the other two subspecies found in South Australia, primary by the lanceolate to broad-lanceolate juvenile leaves, prominently beaked bud-cap, inflexed flower stamens and their distribution. Flowering between November and February. Fruits are woody, hemispherical to ovoid fruit to 8 mm long and 8 mm wide, smooth, with broad ascending disk, valves triangular, prominently exserted. Seeds are yellow-brown seed. Seed embryo type is folded.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between November and March. One of the few eucalypt species that release their seed. As a result monitoring of mature fruits is necessary. Collect mature fruits that are dark and hard (difficult to break with a finger nail), with the valves un-open. Leave the fruits in a breathable container in a dry room for one to two weeks. This allows the valves on the fruit to open and release the seeds. Separate the seeds by placing all the materials into a bucket and shaking it to dislodge the seeds. Pass the material through a sieve to separate the unwanted material. The finer material will contain both seeds (soft) and frass (hard) usually distinguishable from each other but can be very similar in shape and colour. With finer sieves, the seeds can be separated from the frass but this is not essential for storage or propagation. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. Seeds are non-dormant, viable seed should germinate readily. Germination 100% on 1% w/v agar, 8/16 dark/light, 20�C. See http://data.kew.org/sid