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BLUE GUM, SYDNEY

Eucalyptus saligna
Eucalyptus saligna of the family Myrtaceae

Native to Australia but also grows in New Zeland, and parts of Africa and South America. It is a common wood in Australia and widely used for flooring, as it is hard, durable, and attractive. The texture is somewhat coarse. I have not seen this wood advertised in veneer form. The name, I am told by a correspondent from Australia, comes from the following:

(1) The tree grows on the coastal slopes of the Great Dividing Range over a length of about 800 miles, mostly to the north of Sydney
(2) the color of the leaves which are blue-green.

my samples: NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K) colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of Sydney blue gum / Eucalyptus saligna --- HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain and HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above

web pics:

planks listed as Sydney blue gum / Eucalyptus saligna


planks


plank listed as Sydney blue gum and with a very unlikely color


figured Sydney blue gum piece raw and then trimmed and finished


beeswing Sydney blue gum / Eucalyptus saligna


fiddleback Sydney blue gum / Eucalyptus saligna according to the wildly optimistic vendor who posted this pic (there IS an apparent tight curl but it looks awfully weak to me)


glulam listed as Sydney blue gum / Eucalyptus saligna


flooring