forest red gum

9.1

A tall tree from eastern Australia with hard wood and smooth bark

noun

Australian

: eucalipto rojo de los bosques

Many koalas feed on the leaves of the forest red gum in eastern Australia.

Examples

The wood from the forest red gum is highly valued for its strength and durability.
Planting a forest red gum can help provide habitat for native wildlife.
The forest red gum is known for its durability.
Many forest red gums grow in Queensland.
Many koalas feed on the leaves of the forest red gum in eastern Australia.
The wood from the forest red gum is highly valued for its strength and durability.
Planting a forest red gum can help provide habitat for native wildlife.

Synonyms

Eucalyptus tereticornis

vsforest red gum

Australian

9.8

A tall tree from eastern Australia with smooth bark whose leaves feed koalas and wood people use for building

is the common everyday name used by people and in timber trade

Surface Forms

forest red gum singular

forest red gums plural

Morphology

forest + red + gum

The phrase is fully compositional: 'gum' denotes a type of eucalyptus tree, 'red' describes its colour, and 'forest' qualifies the variety or habitat, so together they denote a specific kind of tree. Such descriptive species names follow ordinary noun + adjective + modifier patterns common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would understand it refers to a type of tree.

Etymology

Forest red gum comes from the words for what the tree is: gum for the sticky 'sap' it gives, red for its red-brown 'wood', and forest because it grows in forests, so the name points to a tall eucalyptus with sticky sap and red wood.