barking ....

These are a few of the tree in Woodleigh Crescent, Vermont South, in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. The idea this is a Crescent and that it is in Vermont South not South Vermont (I live in Vermont and the street is south of here) are the result of the no knowledge, no sense and no imagination of developers and local governments. I hate the pretentions of both. However, someone had the good sense many years ago to plant some good trees here and these spotted gum (Corymbia maculata) have now grown to more than 20 metres. This time of the year is deciduous time, the trees are shedding bark everywhere, and I have seen a few branches lying around at the foot of trees too. The bark is interesting for its colour.
A bit of rain and the colour comes out. Mainly grey, orange and pink at the moment.
With some purply pink patches too. The tree below is particularly pink. This method of shedding is called decorticating.
The effect is noticeable from the road, which I why I took these pictures. I was driving up the street in the rain, and was so taken by the colour I stopped to take some of these pictures.

The tree below is pink and grey, and it is not wet, so the colour is very pale and less vivid.
Many people believe eucalypts are an evergreen non-deciduous tree. But they drop branches, leaves, and bark, and in large quantities. At least three people have been killed in recent months by falling branches (see earlier post). lemon scented gums (Corymbia citriodora), according to Seddon, withdraw nutrients from lower branches, which die and drop off, the scar being covered in cambium to close the hole.
Patches of bark detaching from the tree reveal all sorts of effects, including a pale green new bark.
More green. The new bark comes through green or cream. The result is a pile of rubbish around the stump, which, according to George Seddon, is a mulch that prevents competition growing at the foot of the tree, and the trees out-compete anything else in the forest. The rubbish also produces fire-prone ground cover. But here in the leafy suburbs of eastern Melbourne the only fire likely is that under a nice piece of juicy rump and some snags.