Corymbia intermedia
Encyclopedia
Corymbia intermedia or the pink bloodwood (also known as Eucalyptus
intermedia) is a bloodwood
native to Queensland
and New South Wales
. More specifically it is found on a narrow belt ranging from Cooktown to north of Newcastle
.
first described the pink bloodwood in 1901, naming it Eucalyptus intermedia, the species name derived from the Latin
adjective intermedius and based on the intermediate nature of the oils between the red and yellow bloodwoods. In 1995, the Eucalyptus genus was split into three genera by Ken Hill and Lawrie Johnson
, with E. intermedia transferred into Corymbia
.
Hill and Johnson classified Corymbia intermedia in its own series Intermediae, A combined analysis of nuclear rDNA
(ETS + ITS) and morphological characters published in 2009 found it to be closely related to C. trachyphloia
and C. hendersonii. C. intermedia and other species were placed in the large section Septentrionales within the subgenus Corymbia.
The common name comes from the gum veins in the wood.
. Flowers are followed by the development of the urn-shaped gumnuts which are 1.2–2 cm (0.5–0.8 in) long and 1–1.5 cm (0.4–0.6 in) across.
The pink bloodwood resembles the red bloodwood, and the two species co-occur in central New South Wales. The latter species can be distinguished by its larger gumnuts and winged seeds.
), forest red gum (E. tereticornis
), narrow-leaved ironbark (E. crebra
), scribbly gum (E. racemosa
), grey gum (E. propinqua
), blackbutt (E. pilularis
), flooded gum (E. grandis
), red mahogany (E. resinifera
), and black sheoak (Allocasuarina littoralis
) and red wattle (Acacia flavescens
) in coastal north Queensland.
in northern New South Wales, the squirrel glider
( Petaurus norfolcensis) has been observed biting and gouging into the bark to make a wound on the trunk of the pink bloodwood and then lick the sap out. The behaviour has also been recorded for the yellow-bellied glider
(P. australis
) for the this species. Study of the forest habitat of the sugar glider
(P. breviceps) and mahogany glider
( P. gracilis) found that the presence of pink bloodwood was corellated with the presence of the former and absence of the latter species.
Study of the impact of perioding burning in forest in southeastern Queensland found no significant difference in trunk diameter of pink bloodwoods in unburnt forest compared with forests burnt every two or four years.
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
intermedia) is a bloodwood
Bloodwood
Bloodwood has several meanings. It is the name of a dark red wood, from South America. It is also a common name for several unrelated groups of trees, for instance:* Brosimum paraense, a tree found in Central and South America...
native to Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
and New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. More specifically it is found on a narrow belt ranging from Cooktown to north of Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
.
Taxonomy
Richard Thomas BakerRichard Thomas Baker
Richard Thomas Baker was an Australian economic botanist, museum curator and educator.-Early life:Baker was born in Woolwich, England, son of Richard Thomas Baker, a blacksmith, and his wife Sarah, née Colkett...
first described the pink bloodwood in 1901, naming it Eucalyptus intermedia, the species name derived from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
adjective intermedius and based on the intermediate nature of the oils between the red and yellow bloodwoods. In 1995, the Eucalyptus genus was split into three genera by Ken Hill and Lawrie Johnson
Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson
Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson, known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian taxonomic botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, for the whole of his professional career, as a botanist , Director and Honorary Research Associate .Alone or in collaboration with colleagues, he...
, with E. intermedia transferred into Corymbia
Corymbia
Corymbia is a genus of about 113 species of tree that were classified as Eucalyptus species until the mid-1990s. It includes the bloodwoods, ghost gums and spotted gums. The bloodwoods had been recognised as a distinct group within the large and diverse Eucalyptus genus since 1867...
.
Hill and Johnson classified Corymbia intermedia in its own series Intermediae, A combined analysis of nuclear rDNA
Ribosomal DNA
Ribosomal DNA codes for ribosomal RNA. The ribosome is an intracellular macromolecule that produces proteins or polypeptide chains. The ribosome itself consists of a composite of proteins and RNA. As shown in the figure, rDNA consists of a tandem repeat of a unit segment, an operon, composed of...
(ETS + ITS) and morphological characters published in 2009 found it to be closely related to C. trachyphloia
Corymbia trachyphloia
Corymbia trachyphloia or the brown bloodwood is a bloodwood native to Queensland and northern New South Wales....
and C. hendersonii. C. intermedia and other species were placed in the large section Septentrionales within the subgenus Corymbia.
The common name comes from the gum veins in the wood.
Description
The pink bloodwood is a medium to tall tree which can reach 20–30 m (65–100 ft) in height with a 10–20 m (30–65 ft) spread. The rough bark is tesselated, light brown to grey in colour and extends the branches and trunk. The lanceolate juvenile leaves are 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long by 2–2.5 cm (0.8-1 in) wide and dark green above with paler undersides, while the leathery adult leaves are 10–15 cm (4–6 in) long by 1.5–3 cm (0.6–1.2 in) wide, lanceolate and dark green in colour. Flowering occurs from December to March and the profuse perfumed white or cream flowers are up to 2 cm (0.8 in) in diameter. Seven flowerheads make up an inflorescenceInflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
. Flowers are followed by the development of the urn-shaped gumnuts which are 1.2–2 cm (0.5–0.8 in) long and 1–1.5 cm (0.4–0.6 in) across.
The pink bloodwood resembles the red bloodwood, and the two species co-occur in central New South Wales. The latter species can be distinguished by its larger gumnuts and winged seeds.
Distribution and habitat
The species is found in New South Wales from Gloucester northwards into Queensland, as far as to Cape York—a total range of 2500 km (1500 mi)—and within 100 km (60 mi) of the eastern coastline. It trives on loamy and sandy soils, and has been found on altitudes of up to 1200 metres (4000 ft), with annual rainfall of 750–2200 mm and predominantly summer rain. It grows in open forest, or occasionally lone trees grow in closed forest or on the margins of rainforests. It is associated with such species as carbeen (Corymbia tesselaris), broad-leaved stringybark (Eucalyptus caliginosaEucalyptus caliginosa
Eucalyptus caliginosa, Broad-leaved Stringybark, New England Stringybark, is a medium sized tree with grey to red-brown, fibrous, stringy, fissured longitudinally, bark with red-brown underlayers to small branches...
), forest red gum (E. tereticornis
Eucalyptus tereticornis
Eucalyptus tereticornis is a species of tree native to eastern Australia.It has a great many common names, of which Forest Red Gum is perhaps the most widely known...
), narrow-leaved ironbark (E. crebra
Eucalyptus crebra
Eucalyptus crebra, commonly known as the Narrow-leaved ironbark or Narrowleaf red ironbark, is a type of Ironbark tree native to eastern Australia. A member of the large genus Eucalyptus, this tree is in the Myrtaceae family and can grow to a large spreading tree up to 35 m high...
), scribbly gum (E. racemosa
Eucalyptus racemosa
Eucalyptus racemosa, known as the Scribbly Gum, or Snappy Gum is a tree native to eastern Australia. An alternative name is Narrow Leaved Scribbly Gum, as the leaves are different to the related Eucalyptus haemastoma, a similar and better known tree. Occurring on the poor sandstone soils in mid to...
), grey gum (E. propinqua
Eucalyptus propinqua
Eucalyptus propinqua, known as the Grey Gum or Small fruited Grey Gum is a common eucalyptus tree of eastern Australia.It can grow to 50 metres in height, though is mostly seen between 20 and 30 metres tall. Growing north from Wyong in New South Wales up to south east Queensland, in high rainfall...
), blackbutt (E. pilularis
Eucalyptus pilularis
Eucalyptus pilularis, commonly known as Blackbutt, is a common and dominant tree of the myrtaceae family native to southeastern Australia. A large tree, it is identified by the stocking of rough bark, to about half way up the trunk, above this is white smooth bark. The leaves are a uniform glossy...
), flooded gum (E. grandis
Eucalyptus grandis
Eucalyptus grandis, commonly known as the Flooded gum or Rose gum, is a tall tree with smooth bark, rough at the base fibrous or flaky, grey to grey-brown...
), red mahogany (E. resinifera
Eucalyptus resinifera
Eucalyptus resinifera , known as the Red Mahogany, is a common eucalyptus tree of eastern Australia. Its range of distribution is from Jervis Bay north to about Gladstone, Queensland in dry sclerophyll or wet sclerophyll forest habitats, preferring soils of a medium to high fertility.- Description :E...
), and black sheoak (Allocasuarina littoralis
Allocasuarina littoralis
Allocasuarina littoralis or Black Sheoak is an endemic medium-sized Australian tree . A...
) and red wattle (Acacia flavescens
Acacia flavescens
Acacia flavescens, also known as the red or yellow Wattle, is a tree in the Acacia genus native to eastern Australia....
) in coastal north Queensland.
Ecology
In Bungawalbin National ParkBungawalbin National Park
Bungawalbin is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 563 km north of Sydney. Originally known as Bungawalbin Nature Reserve, it was granted National Park status in 1999....
in northern New South Wales, the squirrel glider
Squirrel Glider
The Squirrel Glider is a nocturnal gliding possum, one of the wrist-winged gliders of the genus Petaurus.-Habitat:...
( Petaurus norfolcensis) has been observed biting and gouging into the bark to make a wound on the trunk of the pink bloodwood and then lick the sap out. The behaviour has also been recorded for the yellow-bellied glider
Yellow-bellied Glider
The Yellow-bellied Glider is an arboreal and nocturnal gliding possum that lives in a narrow range of native eucalypt forests down eastern Australia, reaching from northern Queensland to Victoria.-Habitat:...
(P. australis
P. australis
P. australis may refer to:* Pachyornis australis, the crested moa, an extinct bird species* Paracalliope australis, an amphipod crustacean species in the genus Paracalliope found in Australasia* Phaius australis, an orchid species...
) for the this species. Study of the forest habitat of the sugar glider
Sugar Glider
The sugar glider is a small gliding possum originating from the marsupial family.The sugar glider is native to eastern and northern mainland Australia and is also native to New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago.- Habitat :Sugar gliders can be found all throughout the northern and eastern parts of...
(P. breviceps) and mahogany glider
Mahogany Glider
The mahogany glider is an endangered gliding possum native to a small region of coastal Queensland.-Appearance:A nocturnal arboreal marsupial, the mahogany glider closely resembles the sugar glider, the squirrel glider and the yellow-bellied glider., but is noticeably larger than any of its...
( P. gracilis) found that the presence of pink bloodwood was corellated with the presence of the former and absence of the latter species.
Study of the impact of perioding burning in forest in southeastern Queensland found no significant difference in trunk diameter of pink bloodwoods in unburnt forest compared with forests burnt every two or four years.