Overlooked and Underrated

Smyrell's Clausena at Peacehaven

The Clausena smyrelliana, Smyrell’s Clausena or Greg’s Wampi (a great name in my opinion) was overlooked by Europeans until the 1990s. It was brought to the botanical world’s attention by Greg Smyrell, a Queensland botanist. They have been found in the rainforest only in a very restricted part of the Maryborough/ Bundaberg region. The first one was discovered by Greg Smyrell in the Hervey Bay area, then a few more in 2005 in a small patch at Mon Repos. Unfortunately the Bundaberg trees died, possibly due to the drought, and now only one, the original, is known to exist in the wild.

Why aren’t we shouting this from the rooftops? It must be one of the rarest plants in the wild. 

The flower with my finger tip to show the scale.

Luckily it has been easy to cultivate, and Peacehaven has its own beautiful specimen. It belongs to the Rutaceae or citrus family. The edible fruit is said to have a citrus flavour and the crushed leaves smell of lemon.

It’s a fast growing but small tree, about 7-8 m in the wild, probably smaller in your garden. It has a dense canopy of shiny, dark green leaves giving a very textural appearance. The flowers are tiny though showy in clusters above the leaves. The fruit when ripe are white.

A close cousin is the Clausena lansium or Wampi from Asia. Its fruit is very sweet and popular in that part of the world fresh or cooked in pies or jams.  

Click here for an interesting article on Greg's Wampi.

Unripe fruit of Clausena smyrelliana

Blood in the Park

You can’t hear yourself think at Peacehaven at the moment. The lorikeets, all three resident species, are screaming their heads off in the tall timbers. It’s enough to make your blood boil, or have their blood on your hands.

Red Bloodwood, Corymbia gummifera

However that’s not the kind of blood I’m really referring to but the Red Bloodwoods which are flowering profusely at the moment. Corymbia gummifera (once known as Eucalyptus gummifera) make up part of Peacehaven’s mature tree collection and with their summer blossom are causing hysteria in the lorikeet communities.

The Red Bloodwoods are at, or close to, their maturity as they typically grow to approximately 20-30 metres and the ones in the Park are about that height. They are full of flowers and buds at the moment and as the flowers are on the edge of the canopy the creamy mass is very showy.

The showy flowers

Corymbia gummifera flower

As befitting a tree of this magnificence the gumnuts or seed capsules are stylish too. They are urn-shaped and about 1 cm wide. 

Corymbia gummifera seed capsule 

Lorikeets are only one of the nectarivores that love the bloodwood. In the wild honeyeaters, flying foxes, gliders, blossom bats, and diurnal and nocturnal insects also feed on the nectar; while Sugar Gliders eat the sap. It is thought that birds and flying foxes carry the pollen far afield ensuring there is cross pollination. Once the seeds ripen the cockatoos will come into feed so the screaming isn't over yet.

The characteristic red gum staining the bark

The bloodwoods are named because of the sap or kino that seeps from wounds on the tree. This can be a brilliant red in some specimens. Our trees don’t show much of this but a couple of branches that came down in the recent high wind are scarred red.

The timber is a deep red colour and termite resistant so is used for rough construction purposes such as fencing, power poles, house stumps, mining timbers and railway sleepers.

The aborigines used the sap to stop fraying on their fishing lines, and both the sap and the leaves had medicinal qualities particularly for open sores. 

Corymb structure of the floral clusters

Corymbia; from the Latin ‘corymbium’, referring to the branched structure of the terminal floral clusters called a corymb.

gummifera; from the Latin, referring to the gum production that is characteristic of this species.