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Corymbia opaca

Corymbia opaca
Photo: Mark Marathon, CC BY-SA 3.0
Family
Myrtaceae (Myrtle family)
Grows as
Tree
Native range
NW. & C. Australia
Climate
desert or dry shrubland

About

Corymbia opaca, also known as desert bloodwood, is a species of tree that is endemic to northern Australia. It has rough bark on part or all of the trunk, lance-shaped leaves, club-shaped flower buds and urn-shaped fruit. Several parts of this plant are used by Aboriginal Australians in traditional medicine.

Where it grows

Corymbia opaca occurs in scattered population in desert areas of the southwest Kimberley, Pilbara and northern desert regions of Western Australia, in central and southern parts of the Northern Territory (particularly around Alice Springs) and in the Mann and Musgrave Ranges in the far northwest of South Australia. It commonly grows in sandy soils in alluvial areas and on lower hillslopes.

Uses

Occasionally a bloodwood tree will shed a piece of bark, hence opening a "wound" through which a blood-like kino will flow. The sap flows until it crystallises, covering up the hole in the bark. Australian Aboriginals collect this substance as bush medicine. They apply the sticky gum directly to sores or cuts and it works as an antiseptic. If the sap is in a dried form, it can be crushed into powder and boiled in water to use as an antiseptic wash.

Other Corymbia plants

Scraggy Bloodwood · Range Bloodwood · Corymbia aparrerinja · Corymbia arafurica · Kimberley Bloodwood · Katherine Gorge Bloodwood · Corymbia aspera · Corymbia aureola · Corymbia bella · Corymbia blakei · Glossy Leaved Bloodwood · Yellow Bloodwood

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Corymbia opaca by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

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.

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