27 
White, Pale, or Pink Bloodwood, 
At the London Exhibition of 1862, Mr. Charles Moore, of the Botanic 
Gardens, Sydney, exhibited two samples of timber (marked lviii and lix, in the 
Catalogue of N.S.W. timbers), both from “ Clarence and Richmond open forests.” 
Both were called by the aborigines “ Weni Aabie,” and the former by the colonists 
“ Bough-harked Bloodwood,” and the latter “ Smooth-harked Bloodwood.” Thus 
they are described :— 
(lviii.)—Prevailing to a great extent; a tree of considerable size. Timber of great strength, and very 
durable, both in and out of ground. Used principally for posts and beams, (lix.)—This and the preceding 
are mere varieties of the species, and only to be distinguished from each other (by the bark 1). Both 
are equally common, and are used for the same purposes.* 
The “ Smooth-barked Bloodwood ” is now more usually known as “ White” 
or “ Pale Bloodwood,” and I desire to draw further attention to it. 
The late Rev. Dr. Woolls, “ Elora of Australia,” p. 288, quoted Moore, and 
observed that “ Mountain Bloodwood ” (E. eximia ) is different from the Bloodwood 
of the north, which indeed it is. 
There is no doubt, I think, that the “ Pale Bloodwood ” is a distinct species. 
The timber is, when fresh, of a pale pink, although in process of time it turns 
nearly as dark as ordinary Bloodwood. It seems also to have fewer kino-veins, and 
it is undoubtedly very much more fissile. It seems to he very much more sparingly 
distributed than ordinary Bloodwood. It seems always to occur with that species, 
and I would suggest that it may he a hybrid, one of whose parents is the Bloodwood. 
I have specimens of the timber from Eight-mile Plain, Brisbane (J. L. 
Boorman), also, from Glenreagh, 28 miles from Grafton, on the Coff’s Harbour road. 
Mr. District Eorester Wilshire says of it:— 
The Pale Bloodwood is used in culverts and blocks for buildings, and both extensively for posts, it 
being recognised as a very durable timber for ground work. 
Mr. District Eorester Rotton in sending excellent specimens from the parish 
of Numba, in the Shoalhaven District, makes the following report:— 
I am acquainted with the pale-coloured Bloodwood, known as White Bloodwood amongst timber 
men. This tree occurs but rarely in my district; it grows sparingly in the parishes of Nowra, Tomerong, 
Currumbene, and Wandrawandrian, county of St. Vincent. By carefully observing the trees when going 
through a forest, this tree is revealed (only rarely in my district) in a tall, very straight barrel, with bark 
of a light brown colour, not so rough as that of the lied Bloodwood, and having shallower and straighter 
furrows, the cubed face appearance being fairly well maintained. I have never seen a tree of any con 
siderable girth measurement, and timber-getters insist that it seldom grows to large dimensions; average 
about 5 feet 6 inches girth. 
* Maiden’s “ Useful Native Plants of Australia,” p. 441. 
