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Sunday, January 24, 2010

A north Queensland native: Corymbia torelliana - the Cadaghi Gum.


This north Queensland tree – Corymbia torelliana – is a favourite of mine. We usually call it the Cadaghi Gum but sometimes it’s referred to as the Cadaga.

It’s a eucalyptus … a member of the Myrtaceae family. It is native to the Atherton Tablelands area, which is mostly a rainforest area located around 300 kilometres north of my city.  The cadaghi is one of the few eucalypts that is at home in the tropical rainforest.  You will not see many eucalypts in a rainforest!!


I am lucky enough to have two old cadaghis growing on my property and they're both more than 30 feet high now.  You can see part of their trunks to the right of the photo below.

One of the features of this tree is that it has broad leaves and quite a dense canopy which creates a lot of shade. My cadaghis are growing in a section of garden beside the hill driveway and right next to my courtyard garden.  The shade created by these tall trees helps to keep my courtyard garden cool for most of the hot summer months.

It is a welcome relief to get home on a hot, muggy summer’s day after work … hop out of the car at the top of the hill driveway … walk down the driveway under the canopy of these trees and instantly feel cooler!!

The feature I do love more though is it’s fabulous trunk. It has grey scaly bark at the base all year round...

but as you move up the trunk you will find dull grey-brown bark.
Then once every year it will shed this bark ...

 ...to reveal a fabulous smooth green trunk.

When it flowers, it gets masses of scented cream balls all in clusters at the end of the branches.

Here you can see masses of flower buds and flowers.

My Cadaghis flower from the end of spring to the beginning of summer and attracts loads and loads of bees.

When the flowers fall, the small fruit or gumnut is left.

Now, just one last look at the fabulous colours under the peeling bark ... so beautiful!

16 comments:

  1. Nice blog. I am amazed to see the picture of cadaghis flower. It looks awesome. It was nice going through your blog. Keep on posting..!

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  2. Thanks for visiting, Flowers ... glad you enjoyed the blog.

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  3. Thanks for letting me the name of the Butterfly in earlier post.

    This tree is amazing high! It certainly provides a good shade for you and other garden plants. Is the tree draught tolerant? And do you have to water the plant regularly? Could the tree can be left to survive by itself?

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  4. Stephanie ... this gum tree is a hardy specimen. It is definitely drought tolerant ... it has minimum watering requirements when it's establishing itself, but when it'ser it can survive well in harsh drought conditions. This is a tree that looks after itself extremely well.

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  5. We just cut down this same tree in Palm Harbor, Florida. It was between 75-80 ft tall, and was the trunk was within 10 feet of the home so many of the very large limbs hung over the home so we removed it.

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  6. I have this tree in my yard and I've been trying to find out what it was. The local county extension told me I have a Corymbia torelliana. I'm now starting to look at several web sites to find out more about it.

    Mine is quite messy in that small branches are constantly dying and then break off and litter the ground. Is this true for others as well?

    It was interesting looking at your photos but it seems to me that you have leaves from three different plants posted. One is of long, slender leaves, a second has almost round leaves and the third look similar to mine.

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  7. Neil ... thanks very much for bringing it to my notice that I have indeed posted the wrong photo! Senior moment, obviously ... so I've rectified the situation immediately.

    Now you can see that the Corymbia does indeed have rounded leaves. It sounds like you have the Cadaghi Gum.

    They are messy at different times of the year ... mostly during flowering time when the birdlife feast on the blooms and the fruit. However, the branches fall throughout the year, and the seedpods drop when they get too heavy for the little branches.

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  8. I am in Queensland Australia and have been informed by our local council that it is now listed as a weed and that we can remove the tree. It is over 30 feet tall and constantly dropping small branches and pods. I was also informed by our gutter cleaner that it is a toxic plant that has proven records of full branches falling without warning. We have also noticed this, so if you are the Fraser Coast area..have it removed.Since we have moved here the family has had respiratory problems. Could this be caused by the tree?? I am consulting our Doctors over this in the near future as it was only mentioned today by the council. Cheers and good luck to all.

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  9. Hi Bernie, We have moved to a new place in Brisbane last March. In the backyard there is a Cadaghi tree... or two. One had nuts is March already when we moved in last year but nothing this year. Are they only give nuts and flower every other year? Also one has the new growths red but the other tree has green ones. Otherwise they look all the same. Other question is about soothy mould. Is there any way to get rid of it? I have been told to try to get rid of the ants so they can't protect and encourage the little bugs secreting the sticky liquid. Any better ideas? Livia

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  10. Hi, I live in Sydney but have always admired this tree. I now work at an after school care & there is a Cadaghi there. I would love to grow one in my yard at home as we are lucky enough to have a very large yard. Any ideas where I may be able to get a seedling?
    Thanks for the beautiful photos. Raechel.

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  11. Hey Bernie this is great stuff - I have been searching the internet for an hour, and now at last I have identified my tree as a Cadaghi ! Thanks, Paul.

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  12. We have this tree in one corner of the yard in coastal Qld wide bay. This year for the first time since we have been here, 7 years, it lost every leaf and we thought it was dead. Now it is covered in leaf again, we are in a drought so have put it down to this. I read in a previous post that it was toxic, I don't know about that as when it flowers the tree is full of birds eating the blossom. It is rather a messy tree, ours is quite big and towers over the old queenslander in height.

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    1. Yes an extended dry period will definitely have an effect. My Cadaghis will drop their leaf load in a particularly long dry season. I'm not sure about them being toxic, apart from being toxic to the native landscape. They are listed as an environmental weed, especially in south-eastern Queensland. They are definitely a messy tree and when the Cockatoos come to feast on the flower nectar the mess is extensive!!

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  13. Can someone tell me as Google can't no matter how many ways I put it if the cadigi tree attracts cockatoos & galahs at all - I cannot find a aingle thing

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    1. Toni, my two Cadaghis attract loads of birds, especially the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and the Red-tailed Black Cockatoos. I haven't seen any Galahs feasting on the flower nectar yet

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  14. These trees are magnificent in southern qld too and attract not only parrots, but flying foxes which adore the nectar of the flowers. I have seen peewees (mudlarks) building their nest on a limb of the Cadaghi. They all make a mess on lawns, but in paddocks or with forest plants at their base, they are a fast growing useful tree even in hot and dry situations, especially if given some auxiliary water.

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