This is an example of the river red gum growing in a stream bed near the Wahratta Fault south of Tibooburra, NSW.

The river red gum is a massive tree standing up to 20 m tall, often with a thick short trunk but can also be thin along smaller creeks. It populates most of the streams and creeks in inland Australia

Bark: whitish with irregular grey-brown or red peeling patches, grey and rough at base.
Leaves: lanceolate to narrow lanceolate, accuminate, 8-30 cm long x 7-20 mm wide, stalked, dull grey-green, fairly thick, drooping.
Flowers: creamy white in axillary clusters of 7-11. Buds with a conical cap (beaked in eastern and southern forms). Scar present.
Fruit: 5-8 x 5-8 mm, disc ascending, valves short, triangular, protruding.
Source: Phillip Moore (2005). A guide to plants of inland Australia. Reed New Holland, ISBN 1 876334 86 X.
Photo: Ian Roach

Back