Spotted Gum     

Local Names	Spotted gum, lemon-scented gum (C. citriodora subsp. citriodora only), spotted irongum.
Description and natural occurrence	On favourable sites, these species grow to 45 m in height and 1.3 m in stem diameter, but attain only half these dimensions on poorer sites. They have straight, slender trunks with smooth bark. The bark is shed in patches, giving the species its characteristic spotted appearance. Colour tones range from pink to grey-blue. Corymbia citriodora subsp. variegata occurs mainly in the coastal areas of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, but also in western areas of southern Queensland. C. citriodora subsp. citriodora grows from the mid-north coast of NSW to the Windsor Tableland, North Queensland. C. maculata occurs from Bega (NSW) to the mid-north NSW coast, and also a disjunct occurrence in eastern Victoria. C. henryi grows in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. Sawn timber from these species is generally available, and spotted gum is currently the highest volume native hardwood harvested in Queensland. Future supplies of plantation-grown spotted gum should be available from most regions in central and southern Queensland on suitable soils and where the mean annual rainfall exceeds 600 mm.
Wood Appearance	Colour. The heartwood ranges from light brown through to dark red-brown. Sapwood is usually white and up to 50 mm wide. Grain. Moderately coarse textured and variable. Gum veins common. The presence of wavy grain can produce an attractive fiddleback figure.
Uses	Engineering. Moderately coarse textured and variable. Gum veins common. The presence of wavy grain can produce an attractive fiddleback figure. Construction. As unseasoned timber in general house framing and as seasoned dressed timber in cladding, internal and external flooring, linings and joinery. Also in fencing, landscaping, retaining walls and as structural plywood and hardboard. Decorative. Internal fine furniture, outdoor furniture, turnery, joinery, parquetry. Others. Tool handles, boat building (keel and framing components, planking, decking), coach, vehicle and carriage building, agricultural machinery, sporting goods (baseball bats, croquet mallets, spring and diving boards, parallel bars) and bent work. It has been used for butcher’s blocks, meat skewers, mallet heads, ladder rungs, wheel spokes, wine casks and broom handles. Spotted gum is the main Australian species for tool handles which are subjected to high impact forces, such as axe handles.

Click Here To Go Back