Over the past century, pharmaceutical interventions have become increasingly important in the treatment of ailments around the world, particularly in more developed nations. This is reflected in the ever-increasing investment of the pharmaceutical industry into drug research and development, which is reported to have increased from $2.3 billion USD in 1981 to $83 billion USD in 2019 [1]. This trajectory is unlikely to change anytime soon given the increasing prevalence of resistance to anti-microbials [2], and the need for more treatments to deal with the continual rise of conditions such as metabolic disorders and autoimmune diseases ^[3][4][3,4]. In less developed nations, however, access to pharmaceutical treatments is still limited, and as such, they continue to rely heavily upon medicinal plants for the treatment of many ailments [5].

For millennia, plants have been utilised by native cultures across the world for food, shelter, livelihood and medicine [6]. Even today, it is estimated that 65–80% of the world′s population continues to rely upon natural remedies due to a lack of access to modern medicine [7]. Ironically, it is to the native populations of the world who lack access to modern medicine that many researchers have been turning for inspiration and direction. Ethnopharmacology is becoming increasingly prevalent as a means of discovering new drug leads, as indigenous populations′ knowledge of plant medicinal properties can be utilised to direct the search for bioactive compounds [8]. The popularity of ethnopharmacological drug discovery is unsurprising given that approximately 40% of all small molecule therapeutics are natural products or derived from natural product pharmacophores [9] and that many of the over 50,000 medicinal plants known worldwide have not been screened for bioactive compounds to this day ^[7][10][7,10]. This is especially true of the many medicinal plants endemic to Australia.

Indigenous (aboriginal) Australians have lived from the land for thousands of years and have an intimate connection to and knowledge of endemic flora and their medicinal properties. Trees of the Eucalyptus genus (Myrtaceae) represent perhaps one of the most renowned Australian aboriginal bush medicines. These species are well-known for their volatile essential oils (EOs) which are extracted from the leaves and used to treat respiratory infections and inflammatory conditions around the world [11]. Further, Eucalyptus trees, while endemic to Australia, have been cultivated around the world and have become essential medicinal plants for other native populations around the world ^[12][13][12,13].

Despite the extensive knowledge and fame of the Eucalyptus genus for its medicinal properties, comparatively little is known about species of the Corymbia genus, which have similar phytochemical and medicinal properties [14]. The Corymbia genus comprises bloodwood, spotted and ghost gum trees, which were previously classified as subspecies of the Eucalyptus genus. In 1995, however, DNA and morphological research concluded that bloodwood, spotted and ghost gum trees were genetically distinct from other Eucalyptus species, and they were, therefore, reclassified as members of the Corymbia genus of the Myrtaceae family ^[15][16][15,16]. One key morphological characteristic of many Corymbia spp. is their production of kino, a resinous exudate which is used to treat many ailments by the aboriginal peoples of Australia [17]. Along with the known ethnomedical uses of various Corymbia species, a broad range of biological activities are observed in the EOs, crude extracts and compounds isolated from this genus ^{[18][19][20][21]}[18,19,20,21], highlighting the potential of the Corymbia genus to provide new drug leads and treatments for many common diseases. 

The ethnopharmacological data for the Corymbia genus presented in Table 1 show that of the 115 species known, ethnomedical uses have only been reported for 14 of these species. Of those 14 species, the kino was used medicinally in 12 spp., followed by the leaves (7 spp.) and bark (3 spp., Figure 1).

The kino of Corymbia genus plants is commonly applied directly to cuts (haemostatic), burns and wounds by aboriginal people and is added to water to make antiseptic washes ^{[17][22][92][93][94]}[17,22,92,93,94]. Kino is applied locally to treat infections such as ringworm, venereal sores and other STIs ^[17][91][17,91] and is also ingested to treat pulmonary and heart complaints, gastrointestinal and bladder infections, diarrhoea and dysentery ^{[17][40][41][89]}[17,40,41,89]. The kino of C. terminalis is also used as a tonic to treat blood conditions and to relieve headaches [22].

Hot water extracts of Corymbia spp. leaves are frequently used by aboriginal people as antiseptics for wounds and infections, analgesic baths for rheumatism and are ingested to treat respiratory and urinary tract infections and severe diarrhoea ^{[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][90]}[28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,90]. The leaves of C. citriodora, C. maculata and C. torelliana have also been adopted by the native populations of Cote d′Ivoire, Nigeria, India and Brazil for the treatment of toothaches, obesity and diabetes, respiratory and intestinal complaints, skin conditions, cancer, typhoid fever and malaria ^{[28][30][34][35][36][37][38][111]}[28,30,34,35,36,37,38,111].

The less commonly used barks of the Corymbia spp. also possess medicinal properties. Gum derived from the bark of C. maculata is used in Australian bush medicine to treat bladder infections [30], while the bark of C. terminalis is used by aboriginal communities in Queensland to treat dysentery [91]. The bark of C. citriodora is also reported to be used in Nigeria as an antiseptic and expectorant and as a treatment for toothaches, diarrhoea and snake bites [29].