Flooded gum

Appearance

''Eucalyptus grandis'' grows as a straight and tall forest tree, reaching around 50 m tall, with a dbh of 1.2 to 2 m. The biggest trees can reach 75 m high and 3 m dbh, the tallest recorded known as "The Grandis" near Bulahdelah, with a height of 86 m and a girth of 8.5 m.

The bole is straight for 2/3rds to 3/4 the height of the tree. The bark is smooth and powdery, pale- or blue-grey to white in colour, with a skirt of rough brownish bark for the bottom 1–4 m of the tree trunk. The glossy dark green leaves are stalked, lanceolate to broad lanceolate, and paler on their undersides, 10 to 16 cm long and 2–3 cm wide. They are arranged alternately along the branches. The secondary veins arise off the leaf midvein at a wide angle , and the leaf is dotted with around 800 oil glands per square centimetre.

The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven, nine or eleven on an unbranched peduncle 10–18 mm long, the individual buds sessile or on pedicels up to 5 mm long. Mature buds are oval, pear-shaped or club-shaped, green to yellow or glaucous, 6–9 mm long and 4–5 mm wide. The white flowers appear from mid autumn to late winter from April to August. The flowers are followed by conical, pear- or cone-shaped fruit 4–10 mm long and 5–8 mm wide with the valves at rim level or slightly above.

The Sydney blue gum is very similar in appearance and overlaps ''E. grandis'' in the southern part of its range, but has narrower leaves and more bell-shaped gumnuts with protruding valves. It also has a lignotuber. The mountain blue gum can be distinguished by its entirely smooth bark and wider adult leaves.

Distribution

''E. grandis'' is found on coastal areas and sub-coastal ranges from the vicinity of Newcastle in New South Wales northwards to Bundaberg in central Queensland with disjunct populations further north near Mackay, Townsville and Daintree in northern Queensland, mainly on flat land and lower slopes. The soils are deep fertile alluvial loams. The annual rainfall varies from 1100 to 3500 mm. It is the dominant tree of wet forest and rain forest margins, either growing in pure stands or mixed with trees such as blackbutt , tallowwood , red mahogany , Sydney blue gum , pink bloodwood , turpentine , brush box and forest oak . ''E. grandis'' has been established in plantations in northern Uruguay and is sold under the trade name "Red Grandis".