Corymbia aparrerinja commonly known as Ghost Gum, is an evergreen tree that is native to Central Australia

Central Australia

Central Australia/Alice Springs Region is one of the five regions in the Northern Territory. The term Central Australia is used to describe an area centred on Alice Springs in Australia. It is sometimes referred to as Centralia; likewise the people of the area are sometimes called Centralians...

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It grows up to 20 metres in height and has smooth, white to cream and pink-tinged bark, which sheds seasonally in thin scales. White flowers appear in summer and the fruit are woody brown goblet shaped, valved capsules. The tree features in aboriginal

Australian Aborigines

Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...

 Dreamtime

Dreamtime

In the animist framework of Australian Aboriginal mythology, The Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation.-The Dreaming of the Aboriginal times:...

 stories and gained prominence with the wider public in the 20th century through the paintings of aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira

Albert Namatjira

Albert Namatjira , born Elea Namatjira, was an Australian artist. He was a Western Arrernte man, an Indigenous Australian of the Western MacDonnell Ranges area...

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Ghost Gum occurs in arid areas on rocky slopes, red sand flats and dry creek beds. It is found predominantly in the south of the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

, extending to the west just over the border into Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 and extending to the east into central Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, including a separate occurrence on red earth. In the western parts of central Queensland the species intergrades with Corymbia dallachiana

Corymbia dallachiana

Corymbia dallachiana commonly known as Ghost Gum or Dallachy's gum, is an evergreen tree that is native to Eastern Australia. It grows up to 20 metres in height and has white to cream and pink-tinged bark, often with brown scales. Bark sheds seasonally in thin scales...

, a species with which it was once lumped as C. papuana

Corymbia papuana

Corymbia papuana, formerly known as Eucalyptus papuana, is an evergreen tree that is native to New Guinea and northern Australia.-Classification:...

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Parts of this tree were used by Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 to treat colds.

In 1891 in Barcaldine, Queensland

Barcaldine, Queensland

Barcaldine is a small town in Western Queensland, Australia, approximately by road west of the city of Rockhampton. The town is situated on Lagoon Creek, which flows into the Alice River approximately five kilometres south of the Barcaldine. This is the administrative centre of the Barcaldine...

 a Ghost Gum, known as the Tree of Knowledge

Tree of Knowledge (Australia)

The Tree of Knowledge was a tree in Barcaldine, Queensland, Australia, the understory of which was regarded as the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party . This was because the town was the headquarters of the 1891 Australian shearers' strike where policy and decisions were made...

, was the focal point of a gathering of striking sheep shearers, a key event leading to the formation of the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

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Classification

In the 1990s, Ghost Gums, along with the Bloodwood

Bloodwood

Bloodwood has several meanings. It is the name of a dark red wood, from South America. It is also a common name for several unrelated groups of trees, for instance:* Brosimum paraense, a tree found in Central and South America...

s, were reclassified from the Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...

 genus to the Corymbia

Corymbia

Corymbia is a genus of about 113 species of tree that were classified as Eucalyptus species until the mid-1990s. It includes the bloodwoods, ghost gums and spotted gums. The bloodwoods had been recognised as a distinct group within the large and diverse Eucalyptus genus since 1867...

, though not all botanists agree. This reclassification was based on the work of two botanists, Ken Hill and Lawrie Johnson, who worked at the National Herbarium of New South Wales in Sydney.
It is mostly known as the "Ghost Gum" because of its bark colour.