“Blue gum” can mean different trees in different states, and the same goes for plenty of other Australian hardwood nicknames. The label on the pack isn’t always as precise as it sounds.
If hardness, colour or movement matter to you (and they should), get the actual species clear before you pay a deposit.
Common name vs what’s in the carton
Trade names stick because they’re short, but they don’t map neatly onto botany. A “gum” sold in Victoria isn’t necessarily the same tree as one sold in Tasmania, and imported lookalikes are sometimes sold under familiar Australian names, or as “oak” when the pack is a mix of species and origins.
Ask for:
- The species (or species group) the mill is selling
- Whether it’s mixed species in the pack
- Origin if that affects colour or hardness for you
- The grade name the supplier actually stands behind — see hardwood flooring grades
Tasmanian Oak is a classic group label. It usually covers messmate, stringybark, alpine ash and related species rather than one tree. Victorian Ash is another trade grouping. Blackbutt, Spotted Gum and Jarrah are usually more specific, but even then parcels vary by region and grade.
Imported European oak on engineered floors is generally clearer as a species group, though grades and stains do more visual work than the word “oak” alone.
Why it bites later
You compare Janka numbers for one species, then receive boards from another with a similar marketing name. The colour is different, the hardness is different, and the scratch-resistance pitch no longer matches what landed on site.
The same applies to stains and smoked finishes: the showroom board can be a different base species to the production run. Hardness figures only mean something when they’re measured against the right timber — see timber flooring hardness.
Mixed packs aren’t automatically bad. Feature floors often look better with variation. The problem is when you thought you were buying uniform pale select Blackbutt and received a gum mix with heavy colour swing.
Decision criteria before you pay
- Have the species or species group written on the quote; “timber flooring natural” is too vague
- Ask if the carton is single-species or mixed
- Check whether display samples are from the same mill run and grade
- Check hardness and colour expectations against the specific species named; a similarly named cousin can differ on both
- For engineered, confirm the wear-layer species separately from the core
If a salesperson can’t tell you the species, treat that as a warning sign — a good yard knows exactly what it’s selling.