region; marri boona was said to be a reference to the wood. Distribution Marri is widely distributed in the Southwest region of Western Australia, from north of Geraldton (28° S) to Cape Riche (34° S), and inland beyond Narrogin (32°56′S 117° E). It is found displaying its adaptability to the different environments on the Swan Coastal Plain and the Darling Scarp. Where the soil type is appropriate it will dominate as the upper storey in woodland, to within a few kilometres from the coast. The species will grow on comparatively poor soil, but good specimens are considered an indicator of the better agricultural soils. Found in a variety of terrains including Flats, hills, breakaways, wetlands, fringing salt marches and beside drainage lines it is able to grow in red-brown clay loams, orange-brown sandy clays, gravel and grey sandy soils over limestone, granite or laterite. Ecology A common species, though its population has been subject to large fluctuations due to change in land use in its region. A dominant tree of several vegetation types when in favourable soils and climates, with rich and sometimes intimate associations to other species. The fruit and seeds are consumed by avian species, and it is a staple in the diet of long-billed black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus baudinii) and red-capped parrot (Purpureicephalus spurius). Both species prise marri seeds out of their woody capsule by manipulating it with the foot and lower mandible, and inserting the point of the upper mandible at openings in the seed-dispersing valve. The marks left by the lower mandible on the marri's nut distinguish the species of parrots and cockatoos. Plant species associated with Corymbia calophylla in the mid-story include the tall shrub or tree Persoonia longifolia (snottygobble) and Kingia australis (bullanock) in jarrah-marri woodland, where it dominates the canopy with Eucalyptus marginata. Mid-story species can also include Corymbia haematoxylon, resembling C. calophylla in miniature. Eucalypts occurring in its range can be displaced, in metropolitan Perth is overwhelms E. lane-poolei (salmon white gum) on all but wetter Guildford soils. On the drier coastal plain of its northern range, the size of the tree is only exceeded by tuart, (Eucalyptus gomphocephala). The species is named as one of the dominant taxa in Corymbia calophylla – Xanthorrhoea preissii woodlands and shrublands of the Swan Coastal Plain, a critically endangered ecological community, once widespread and now restricted to less than 3% of its range. One of