Red or river red gum

Trees, to 25 m; trunk gray or tan, nearly straight, ± smooth; bark usually shed in irregular strips distally, sometimes per­sistent toward trunk base; branches often hanging in clusters. Leaves (juvenile alter­nate, petiolate); petiole 0.3–2 cm; blade green, lanceolate, 6–20 × 1.5–2.5 cm. Peduncles 0.8–1.2 cm. Inflores­cences 7-flowered, umbels. Flowers: hypanthium hemispheric, 2–3 mm, length ± equaling calyptra; calyptra mostly hemispheric, often rostrate, rarely bluntly conic; stamens white. Capsules hemispheric, 5–9 mm, not glaucous; valves 3–5, exserted. 2n = 22.

Flowering spring–early summer. Disturbed habitats, river bottoms; 0–1200 m; introduced; Ariz., Calif.; Australia; introduced also in South America.

Eucalyptus camaldulensis is the most widely culti­vated eucalypt, with E. globulus and E. grandis being close second and third. Several infraspecific taxa have been recognized for this variable species and more than one of these may be naturalized in North America.