River redgum

From Envirowiki

The river redgum is a plant and bioregion in the Murray Riverina in NSW and Victoria.

The red gum tree is a slow growing, wide eucalypt. It's wood is (over)used as firewood, especially in Melbourne, it's also used for timber, especially for furniture.

The red gum is a natural monoculture - redgums are the only tree that grows on large parts of the banks of the Murray River. Other small plants, and many animals live in the ecosystem, but most of the trees are redgums, with a few stands of pines in certain areas. The ecosystem exists largely in a flood zone - naturally, the river floods a few times a year, and the water takes a long time to drain.

An Australian political folk band took the name Redgum in reference to the romanticism of the redgum in australian colonial culture.

[edit] external links

• http://www.redgum.org.au - campaign for a redgum national park.