The red flowering gum, Corymbia ficifolia (formerly Eucalyptus ficifolia) is one of those trees that really grabs your attention when it’s in full flower, like very few other flowering trees can, perhaps with the exception of the jacaranda or the Illawarra flame tree.
However, one of the ongoing problems with the red flowering gum has been that it’s always been grown from seed in the nursery industry in the past. When it did flower, after 5 to 10 years, the colour varied enormously as there is a great deal of genetic variability within this species. Not only does the colour vary, but the height of the tree can vary from a 10-15 metre substantial tree to a mallee form that’s no more than a couple of metres in height – a form which does have its advantages in the smaller gardens of today. One of the exciting developments in horticulture in recent years has been the development of the red flowering gum to make it more predictable and amenable to garden culture.
Before I talk about that, though, I’d like to talk about the botany and the name change from Eucalyptus ficifolia to Corymbia ficifolia. The reason why the group of gums that include the red flowering gum were separated from Eucalyptus were that there are considerable differences. Corymbia are generally known as the bloodwoods and they have a special characteristic of being terminal flowering, with all those big sprays of flowers held on the end of the branches, which can be seen from a very long distance away. Many of what have remained as Eucalyptus flower way back inside the canopy on the axillary buds, unlike the terminal buds of Corymbia. Indeed, many people are surprised to hear that all gums are ‘flowering gums’; the red flowering gum just holds its flowers where they can be easily seen. Corymbia shares this terminal flowering with Angophora, sometimes known as the apple gums, of which the Sydney red gum, Angophora costata is probably the best known in cultivation. The botanists faced the dilemma that Corymbia gums were more closely related to Angophor