Long fruited Bloodwood, Red Bloodwood
Corymbia polycarpa

Family: Myrtaceae

What it is like

An medium sized evergreen tree. It grows to 10-20 m high and spreads to 5 m across. The stem is erect and branching. The bark is flaky, rough and grey. The crown is compact. The leaves are dark green above and paler underneath and narrowly sword shaped. They are leathery and taper towards the tip. They are 10-20 cm long by 1.2-3.5 cm wide and have a leaf stalk which is 0.8-2.5 cm long. The young leaves are more rounded and with short stalks. The flower buds are pale green to grey and long. They occur in groups of 3 to 7. The flowers are creamy yellow. They occur in dense heads near the ends of branches. The fruit are long urn shaped capsules. These are woody and narrow towards the neck. They are 1.6-3 cm long by 1-1.5 cm wide. The seeds are yellow brown. They do not have wings.

The gum is used for medicine. There are a 110 Corymbia species mostly originally in Australia.

Where it is found

It is a tropical plant. It does best on light to medium soils. It needs well drained conditions and an open sunny position. It is damaged by drought and frost.

Countries/locations it is found in

Australia (country/location of origin), Pacific, Papua New Guinea

How it is used for food

The seeds are eaten. The insect pupa inside the galls in Northern Australia is eaten. The bloodwood apples are a nut like growth with sweet fluid in the centre is eaten. Insects on the leaves produce a sweet manna like substance which is eaten.

Edible parts

Seeds, galls

How it is grown

Plants are grown from seed. Seed should be collected from local sources as these will be better adpated to local conditions.

Trees flower in March to June and fruit from June to September.

Its other names

Local names

Gadga, Wurringilaka

Synonyms

Eucalyptus polycarpa F. Muell.;