Almost every Australian can identify a gum tree.
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Most know that a gum tree is a member of the eucalyptus group, but not so many can tell a stringybark from a peppermint or a box.
How did our eucalypts become known as gum trees?
The name “gum tree” was given by the first European settlers. They noticed that the new and unfamiliar evergreen eucalyptus trees often produced a reddish gum from the trunk or branches.
It was this substance that gave the trees their common name – a name that has remained and become familiar over the last 200 years.
The name is now so frequently used that its origin is not considered – and mostly unknown.
The gum of most eucalypts is a reddish colour.
It is this colour that has given some species the name of bloodwoods.
Some eucalypts ooze larger amounts than others, making prominent red patches on their trunks.
Quite different from the edible gum found on many wattles (Acacia), eucalyptus gum is correctly known as kino, itself an interesting word of African origin.
The gum is thought to occur mostly as a result of an injury to the tree, perhaps by a borer, a mammal, or a wound or break.
The gum commences as liquid but soon hardens on contact with air. It becomes like glass, but is easily broken and crushed. Unlike the leaves of most eucalypts, the gum has no smell, but it has an astringent taste.
The gum from “gum trees” has been used as medicine, for tanning, and for dyeing, but it seems to be rarely used now.
We can be impressed with the observations of the first European settlers in noticing the gum on the trees around Sydney.
Their immediate descriptive name of “gum tree” has endured to this day.
Today’s botanists, however, use the term in a more limited sense.
The group of smooth-barked – or “gum-barked” – eucalypts are known as gums.
But other members of the eucalyptus group are called stringybarks, peppermints, ironbarks, boxes and so on.
MOUNT BIRDS
Recent noteworthy birds reported this month from the Mt Beckworth area near Clunes are hooded robin, speckled warbler and southern whiteface.
These three species are all rare residents at Mt Beckworth, and cannot be readily located. Their small populations mean that they could be classed as endangered at Mt Beckworth.
Their future is very much in the balance.
Another recent find there was a fan-tailed cuckoo, an early and silent individual.