# River red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis)

> Australia's most widespread eucalypt, a spreading tree of about 30 m with smooth white-to-red-brown bark shed in ribbons, lining the Murray-Darling and almost every inland river. It is also the most widely planted eucalypt in the world, grown for fuelwood, poles and shelter from Ethiopia and Kenya to India, Spain and California. Abroad it is debated: it gives fast income and firewood but is blamed for drying soils and streams and suppressing other plants, and South Africa restricts it near rivers while permitting plantations.

Source: https://treerm.org/trees/eucalyptus-camaldulensis · Updated 2026-11-08 · License CC BY 4.0

## Facts

- Also called: Red gum
- Family: Myrtaceae
- Type: Broadleaf evergreen
- Mature height: 30 m; spread 20 m
- Growth: Fast growing; lives about 500 years
- Light: Full sun
- Water: Moderate water
- Soil: Deep silty or loamy alluvium with a clay base and an accessible water table; tolerates waterlogging, flooding and acid soils
- Native range: Native across most of mainland Australia (NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory) along watercourses and floodplains.

**Benefits:** Shade, Fast canopy, Flood tolerant, Drought tolerant, Wildlife, Birds, Pollinators, Holds soil, Long lived

**Good for:** Streambanks, Timber, Windbreak, Agroforestry, parks

**Watch out for:** Weak wood, Heavy litter, Large roots, Invasive elsewhere

## Care

Grows over 3 m a year on good sites; weed around young trees up to three times a year until the canopy closes. Water in the first dry season only. Old trees drop large limbs without warning, so keep them away from houses and camp sites. Termites, aphids, eucalyptus snout beetle and borers attack stressed young trees.

## Where it stands

- **Native:** NSW, Australia; NT, Australia; QLD, Australia; SA, Australia; VIC, Australia; WA, Australia
- **Adapted:** Spain (Planted; exotic per ICRAF); Ethiopia (Widely planted for fuelwood and poles; ICRAF lists it as exotic here); India (Planted; exotic per ICRAF); Kenya (Planted; exotic per ICRAF)
- **Invasive:** South Africa (NEMBA 2020: Category 1b in riparian areas, protected areas and listed ecosystems, and in Fynbos, Grassland, Savanna and Albany Thicket biomes; Category 2 (permit) for plantations, woodlots and bee-forage areas; not listed in the Karoo and Desert biomes)

## Sources

- https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Eucalyptus~camaldulensis
- https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/treedb2/speciesprofile.php?Spid=760
- https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/saf220858.pdf
- https://www.gbif.org/species/11869920