''Corymbia grandifolia'', commonly known as cabbage gum, large-leaved cabbage gum and paper-fruited bloodwood, is a species of tree that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to northern Australia. It has smooth bark, egg-shaped to broadly elliptic to lance-shaped adult leaves, flowers buds in groups of three or seven, creamy white flowers and cup-shaped to cylindrical fruit.

Description

''Corymbia grandifolia'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of and forms a

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a respons ...

. It has smooth white to pale grey bark that is shed in thin flakes. Young plants and

coppice Coppicing is the traditional method in woodland management of cutting down a tree to a tree stump, stump, which in many species encourages new Shoot (botany), shoots to grow from the stump or roots, thus ultimately regrowing the tree. A forest ...

regrowth have egg-shaped to broadly lance-shaped leaves that are long, wide and petiolate. Adult leaves are the same shade of glossy green on both sides, egg-shaped to broadly elliptic to lance-shaped, long and wide on a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

long. The tree loses its leaves in the dry season. The flower buds are arranged in leaf

axil A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, fl ...

s on the leafless branchlets, on a branched peduncle up to long, each branch of the peduncle with three or seven buds on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branch ...

long. Mature buds are pear-shaped, long and wide with a rounded operculum that sometimes has a central point or knob. Flowering occurs from September to January and the flowers are creamy white. The fruit is a cup-shaped to cylindrical capsule long, wide on pedicels long and with the valves enclosed in the fruit.

Taxonomy and naming

Cabbage gum was first formally described in 1867 by

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

from an unpublished description by

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

and was given the name ''Eucalyptus grandifolia''. Bentham's description was published in ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume Flora of Australia published b ...

''. In 1995 Ken Hill and

Lawrie Johnson Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) 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 (1948–1 ...

changed the name to ''Corymbia grandifolia''. In the same paper, Hill and Johnson described three subspecies and the names have been accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Sys ...

: * ''Corymbia grandifolia'' (R.Br. ex Benth.) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson subsp. ''grandifolia''; * ''Corymbia grandifolia'' subsp. ''lamprocardia'' L.A.S.Johnson; * ''Corymbia grandifolia'' subsp. ''longa'' L.A.S.Johnson.

Distribution and habitat

''Corymbia grandifolia'' grows in open forest, in woodland near watercourses and swamps and rocky slopes or flats in skeletal sandy soils over

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

. Its range extends from the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

region of Western Australia, across the top end of the Northern Territory including

Bathurst Bathurst may refer to: People * Bathurst (surname) * Bathurst Bellers Mann (1858–1948), Irish-born rugby union player in Wales * Bathurst Peachy (1893–1953), American college head baseball coach Places and jurisdictions Australia * Bat ...

and Melville Islands, and along the coast of the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...

as far east as the Gilbert River in Queensland.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396601 grandifolia Myrtales of Australia Flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1867

Description

Taxonomy and naming

Distribution and habitat

See also

References