G is for Gum Trees: Australian stalwarts

Some of the tallest trees in the world

One of the pleasures of visiting Australia is to walk among the gum trees, their scale and their variety a real draw card, I was mightily impressed with the Australian Mountain Ash on this trip down from Mansfield to Melbourne.

Members of the Eucalyptus genus dominate the tree flora here and there are more than 700 species!  

They are known as gum trees because they can exude copious kino from any break in their bark. 

The appearance of the bark varies so much and the trees shed lengths of their bark fibres. 
The type of furrowing, the thickness, the hardness, and the colour is all fascinating to me. 

All mature gum trees put on an annual layer of bark, which contributes to the increasing diameter of the stems. Locals tells cautionary tales of the hazards of falling gum tree branches, car parks have a sign too that says 'beware of falling limbs'. So between the fire hazards and falling limbs these trees dominate in many ways.

How I love the names too, like the scribbly gum, and I notice the flowers and the nuts, along the trails. 

I found this pod on one of my walks, the form and colour remarkable.

This post is for Doreen, she too loves the trees.