Red-flowering gum

Corymbia ficifolia

Summary 6

Pollen: High
Nectar: Low to High

Flowering time 1-12, 12-2…Grows best on sandy soils of costal areas of the Cape, but also does well in frost-free interior locations. Bark greyish-brown, short-fibred, furrowed, divided into small blocks. The large fruit and red flowers make this species unmistakeable. Flowers contain much nectar, which at certain times and from certain trees will drop from teh flowers in a long thin threads. The dense honey is stringy or ropy - it can be drawn out into long threads that display elastic recoil. The polysaccharides destran is responsible for this phenomenon. A honey sample from the Stellenbosch contains 7.2% of this sugar type. Otherwise the honey is dark reddish, slow-granulating and pleasantly flavoured. This species is a regular provider of lesser honey crops in the Cape. The nutritious pollen is occasionally eagerly collected. In the summer rainfall ares, this species flowers less profusely than in the Cape. The white flowering gum, C. calophylla, has much the same properties as a beeplant, but its main flowering period is a little later. (Johannsmeier, M. F. (2016). Beeplants of South Africa: Sources of Nectar, Pollen, Honeydew and Propolis for Honeybees)

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) mrpbps, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/25413523@N08/4253665146
  2. (c) I Am birdsaspoetry.com  (Off till after Oz Day—Maaate), some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/birdsaspoetry/13690660484/
  3. (c) jennyshi, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
  4. (c) Jon Sullivan, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/16921893@N00/8403257015
  5. (c) Hughesdarren, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corymbia_ficifolia_in_Albany.jpg
  6. (c) Megan W., some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

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