Corymbia rhodops, commonly known as red-throated bloodwood,[1] is a species of tree that is endemic to Queensland. It has rough, tessellated bark on the trunk and larger branches, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, creamy white flowers with a red centre, and urn-shaped to barrel-shaped fruit.
Corymbia rhodops is a tree that typically grows to a height of 15m (49feet) and forms a lignotuber. It has red-brown to grey-brown tessellated bark on the trunk and larger branches. Branches thinner than about are smooth-barked. Young plants and coppice regrowth have leaves that are glossy green above, paler below, elliptical to lance-shaped, long and wide. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, glossy green but paler on the lower surface, lance-shaped, long and wide, tapering to a petiole long. The flowers are borne on the ends of branchlets on a branched peduncle long, each branch of the peduncle with seven buds on pedicels long. Mature buds are pear-shaped to oval, long and wide with a conical to rounded operculum with a small point in the centre. Flowering occurs from December to February and the flowers have creamy white stamens with a red centre. The fruit is a woody urn-shaped to barrel-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves enclosed in the fruit.[2] [3] [4]
The red-throated bloodwood was first formally described in 1987 by Denis John Carr and Stella Grace Maisie Carr who gave it the name Eucalyptus rhodops and published the description in their book Eucalyptus II - The rubber cuticle, and other studies of the Corymbosae. They collected the type specimens near Watsonville in 1975.[5] In 1995, Ken Hill and Lawrie Johnson changed the name to Corymbia rhodops, publishing the change in the journal Telopea.[6]
This bloodwood is only known form a few small population on steep slopes on the western side of the Atherton Tableland and on the Windsor Tablelands.
Corymbia rhodops was listed as vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 in 2008.[7] The plant has a limited range but the main identified threat to the tree is the destruction of habitat due to mining activity. It is also listed as "vulnerable" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.[8]