| Rough-barked apple | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Angophora |
| Species: | A. floribunda |
| Binomial name | |
| Angophora floribunda | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
synonyms
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Angophora floribunda, commonly known as therough-barked apple,[2] is a common woodland and forest tree of the familyMyrtaceae native to Eastern Australia. Reaching 30 m (100 ft) high, it is a large tree with fibrous bark and cream-white flowers that appear over the Austral summer. It grows on alluvial soils on floodplains and along watercourses. Much of the land it grew on has been cleared for agriculture.
Angophora floribunda is a large, wide, spreading tree growing to a height of 30 m (100 ft). The trunk is often gnarled and crooked with fibrous grey bark.[2] Like all members of the genusAngophora, the dull to glossy green leaves are arranged oppositely along the stem. 5.5 to 15 cm (2.2–6 in) long and 1–5 cm (0.4–2 in) wide. They arelanceolate to ovate and attached to the stems by 0.6–1.5 cm (0.2–0.6 in) longpetioles. The leaves in the western parts of the range are narrower than those in more coastal regions.[3] The cream-white flowers appear from November to March.[4]
It can be confused withA. subvelutina, but the latter has leaves that are heart-shaped at their base and lacking petioles, arise from the stem.[5]
The rough-barked apple was described byJames Edward Smith in 1797 asMetrosideros floribunda, having been collected by Surgeon-General of New South Wales,John White in 1794. It was growing from seed in Empress Josephine's arboretum atMalmaison by 1804, whenÉtienne Pierre Ventenat catalogued it in hisJardin de la Malmaison.[6] The species name is derived from theLatinfloribunda 'abundant flowers'.[7]Robert Sweet gave it its current name in 1830.[8] Common names include rough-barked apple, apple box, rusty gum, gum myrtle and Boondah.[8]
Genetic work has been published showingAngophora to be more closely related toEucalyptus thanCorymbia, and in 2000 botanist Ian Brooker coined the nameEucalyptus florida for this species asEucalyptus floribunda andE. intermedia had already been used for other eucalypts.[9]
This tree hybridises with the broad-leaved apple (Angophora subvelutina).[4] Genetic analysis suggests the two might be a single species, despite their different morphology. Hybridization is present in some populations where both taxa occur but not others.[10] The Charmhaven apple (Angophora inopina) from the vicinity ofWyee on the Central Coast of New South Wales is closely related and may be a dwarf form ofA. floribunda.[3]
The range is across eastern Australia, fromRolleston andRoma in central Queensland though eastern and central New South Wales and into eastern Victoria, where it is found at Mallacoota.[3] It is found on alluvial soils, generally on shale or basalt soils.[4] In open forest, it is associated with such trees as swamp she-oak (Casuarina glauca), white stringybark (Eucalyptus globoidea), blackbutt (E. pilularis), Blakelys red gum (E. blakelyi), forest red gum (E. tereticornis), brittle gum (E. mannifera), forest she-oak (Allocasuarina torulosa), grey gum (E. punctata), and broad-leaved white mahogany (E. umbra). In wetter forest, it grows alongside Sydney blue gum (E. saligna) and in closed forest alongside lillypilly (Syzygium smithii), cheese tree (Glochidion ferdinandi), Australian white birch (Schizomeria ovata) and sandpaper fig (Ficus coronata) and under emergent specimens of bangalay (E. botryoides), grey ironbark (E. paniculata) and turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera).[4]
The rough-barked apple regenerates by regrowing fromepicormic buds after bushfire. Trees live for more than a hundred years. Thegrey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) andlittle red flying fox (P. scapulatus) eat the flowers, and thewhite-plumed honeyeater (Ptilotula penicillata) forages among the flowers.[4] The tree is used as a nesting site by the rareregent honeyeater (Anthochaera phrygia).[4] Thejewel beetle speciesCuris caloptera,Stigmodera andersoni,S. terminatis andS. vigilans also visit the flowers, the latter three species being fairly specific in their preference forAngophora floribunda.[11] Thelonghorn beetle speciesParoplites australis andAgrianome spinicollis have been recorded from the rough-barked apple.[12]
Angophora floribunda has been recorded as a host for several mistletoe species:Amyema bifurcata,A. miquelii,A. pendula,Dendrophthoe curvata,D. glabrescens,D. vitellina,Muellerina celastroides andM. eucalyptoides.[13]
Femalescarlet myzomelas (Myzomela sanguinolenta) have been observed tearing off bark to use in building their nests.[14]
This is a large plant generally unsuitable for any but the largest gardens.
