The Forest Red Gums (Eucalyptus tereticornis) are coming into flower at the moment and looking very beautiful. This species is the Illawarra's answer to the River Red Gums (E. camaldulensis) that occur further west, and they grow naturally all across the coastal plain.

They're medium to tall eucalypts, often branching low to the ground, with smooth bark in mottled patches of greys, blues and whitishes, often more colourful after rain.

Unfortunately, the ecological community they form part of in Illawarra, the Illawarra Lowland Grassy Woodlands, is critically endangered, so there are very few places you can see these magnificent trees in anything like the conditions they would have occurred in prior to European settlement of the area.

But if you're wandering around Blackbutt Reserve, or Wiseman Park, or Phil Adams Park in Corrimal, you can see Forest Red Gums doing their thing. There's even an estate in Figtree called Redgum Ridge Estate, where Forest Red Gums are still present in good numbers, for the time being at least.

This species often grows together with a range of other local eucs, and together the trees provide habitat for an enormous range of species, including birds that eat the nectar, roost among the branches, or nest in tree hollows, as well as bats, insects and marsupials such as possums and gliders. Forest Red Gum is an all-round fauna larder.

One special feature of eucalypts is the bud cap (or calyptra) that is part of the developing flower bud. In Forest Red Gum, the bud cap is conical, long and pointed, like a witch's or wizard's hat. If you want to get to know the local eucalypts, the details of the buds and bud caps are worth knowing. If you're not that fussed, they're still a really interesting feature, and fallen bud caps can often be seen below local eucs during their flowering period.  

Next time you're out walking on the coastal plain in an area with remnant eucalypts, see if you can spot a Forest Red Gum.

The one below is still fairly young, but I'm sharing because I spent a lot of time with it on Saturday while hanging out at a polling booth at Mount Ousley Public School. It's a beautiful tree already, and the lower branches are low enough that the flowers and fruit are easily accessible, a real bonus if you're trying to identify a eucalypt.