Trees of the Dungog Common

Thanks Harry Rose

Spotted Gum

Spotted Gum (Corymbia maculata) is very common and widespread in the Common, especially on the slopes and crests. It is an indicator of poor soils and often grows where there are heavy clay subsoils close to the surface. Nearly all of its roots are shallow and horizontal as was displayed during the 2015-16 storms which blew of thousands of Spotted Gums in the Hunter.
Spotted Gum can be easily identified by 1) the trunk which is smooth barked but pitted. It looks like someone has taken to it with a ball peen (pein) hammer, although the amount of pitting is highly variable. The colour of the bark is also highly variable from nearly a uniform colour to mottled cream, yellow, blue-grey, pink-grey, to green-grey or brown. 2) the urn to barrel-shaped fruit, and 3) the compound flowerhead (complex branching, not a simple umbel as in most Eucalyptus species).
It flowers any time from January to August. It's highly valued by beekeepers as it produces good honey yields every second flowering and has a high protein and fat content pollen.
For the botanical Latinists:
Corymbia...from Latin, corymbium, a "corymb" referring to floral clusters where all flowers branch from the stem at different levels but ultimately terminate at about the same level.
maculata... from Latin maculosus, spotted, referring to the appearance of the trunk.
In the "Honey and Pollen Flora of South-eastern Australia" on pages 291-292

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