Posted by georgeinbandon,oregon on 6/22/2011, 2:56 pm, in reply to "var. obtusa"
67.142.165.27
no they were not your photos. they were pictures in an old book "wild australia" published by readers digest in the 80's(great book with wonderful pictures). FWIW, in a "field guide to australian trees" ivan holliday wrote "in northern and central australia, the tree (e. camaldulensis) has a slender smooth white trunk and a more sparsely foliaged crown. it is THIS FORM (emphasis mine) which is often mistaken for "ghost gum" (e. papuana sensu latu---since this book was written well before the relatively recent rivision of ghost gum names into a multitude of differing species scattered all over central and northern australia). certainly somebody who "knows" their ghost gums will not be easily fooled by various other species which may have white smooth bark including the various snappy gums and maybe even a nominal red gum or two but the average person seeing them from the car (as you indicated) or off in the distance might be excused for making a wrong i.d.---let alone determining which PARTICULAR ghost gum he is looking at in the frist place. believe it or not, here in the states e. pauciflora---a "snow gum" but maturing with smooth white bark in some forms--has been called "ghost gum" by no less an authority than the sunset western garden book (aka "the bible of western horticulture' and for that matter the "daves garden" website also called pauciflora a ghost gum!!!!!!!! 
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