Gumnut, Split

June 1, 2014

Gumnuts refer to the woody, aromatic fruits of eucalyptus trees. The “nuts” and their preceding flowers will not appear on juvenile eucalyptus trees. (See mature and immature eucalytpus leaves.)

There are over 700 species of eucalyptus and the morphology of the seeds varies widely. The illustration above depicts a Blue Gum (Eucalyptus globulus) fruit.

This gumnut in particular came from a tree near Choachi in Colombia.  Eucalyptus trees were likely planted here for a fast-growing source of wood.

Tags: Bogotá