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Corymbia ficifolia
Also called Red Flowering Gum, Red Flower Gum
Redflower gum is a small, straggly Western Australian eucalypt grown as an ornamental tree, prized for its bright red, pink or orange flowers from December to May. It thrives in temperate climates with low summer rainfall and is usually grown from seed.
Corymbia ficifolia, commonly known as red flowering gum, is a species of small tree that is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It has rough, fibrous bark on the trunk and branches, egg-shaped to broadly lance-shape adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, bright red, pink or orange flowers and urn-shaped fruit. It has a restricted distribution in the wild but is one of the most commonly planted ornamental eucalypts.
Red-flowering gum is one of the most widely cultivated of all eucalypts, both in Australia and overseas. It is best suited to temperate districts with low summer rainfall and is rarely reliable on the east coast of Australia. In suitable climates it is moderately fast-growing and is often larger and more vigorous in cultivation than in the wild. Eucalypts are difficult to grow from cuttings and are usually grown from seed. As a result, flower colour cannot be guaranteed, although some small forms have become available as grafted plants.
In nature Corymbia ficifolia prefers infertile, sandy soils but it is readily adaptable to most 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. The largest known single-stemmed tree of this species in the world (216.5 cm diameter) is located on Princes Street in Hamilton, New Zealand.
Corymbia ficifolia grows in sandy soil in low forest on slopes and is restricted to a sub-coastal distribution south-east of Perth, east of Mount Frankland, Walpole and the Stirling Range.
Corymbia aparrerinja · Redgum · Lemonscented gum · Dallachy's Gum · Mountain Marri · Spotted Gum · Swamp bloodwood · Bloodgums
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Corymbia ficifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
