look veiy different from one another. To study the “ Gum-trees” iveU, it is furtlier necessaiT to study the other
plauts o f the Colony, for the results o f an obser\-er’s experience in such a genus will be entitled to more or less
weight very much according to the amount o f knowledge he possesses of the limits o f variation, etc., in other
plauts : iu short, it requires an experienced and very cautious observer to mouograpli the Australian Gum-trees,
for it is no doubt one of the most difficult tasks in all systematic botany, and at the same time one o f the most
important iu au economic as well as in a scientific point o f view.
Of the economic value o f the Gum-tree timbers I regret to say that I have little definite information, owing to
the difficulty o f ascertaining the precise species upon which observations have been made and published. In the
Proceedings o f the Royal Society of Tasmania I find some very valuable notices by Messrs. Milligan, Mitchell,
■VVatson, Hull, and Ewing, respecting the Blue Gum, Swamp Gmn, Stringy Bark, Peppermint Gum, Aljrtle-leaved
Gum, Ash Gum, Iron-wood, Mountain Gum, Weeping Gum, Black-but Gum, and White Gum. Of these the Blue
Gmn is no doubt E. Globulus, a rapid-growing tree, with excellent wood, attaining a gigantic size both in Southern
Australia and Tasmania. The Swamp Gum and Stringy Bark are perhaps both referable to my E. gigautea, under
which two species may be confounded by me, or tbe Swamp Gum may be some other species attaining a gigantic
size in damp hollows. Mr. Mitchell describes the Swamp Gum as so very like the E . Globulus as not to be easily
distinguished, but with smaUer leaves and thinner bark, as being the largest o f the genus, and groiving twice as fast
as E. Globulus; he mentions trees 251 feet to the first branch. The Stringy Bark he distinguishes by its much
thicker, fibrous bark; Mr. Milligan however adds in a note that this Stringy Bark is the most gigantic o f all, that
it is well named gigautea by me, and that he has measured a sound trank 64 feet in girth at 4 feet above the
ground, and 200 feet high to where it was broken off, and containing 200 tons o f timber. Mr. Watson adds that
the w ood of E. Globulus is equal to English Oak in density, and superior on account of the gi-eat length attainable,
whereas the Stmigy B ark is not approved for shipbuilding, because it shi-inks and swells w ith variations o f humidity.
Air. Hull mentions a hollow E. Globulus at Tolosa as 84 feet in circumference at the ground, and 78 at 6 feet
above the gi-ound, its estimated height being 330 feet. Lastly, the Rev. Mr. Ewing gives details o f a Swamp
Gum-tree, also hollow, found near Hobarton, which was 1 3 0 feet in circumference at the ground, and 102 at 3
feet above it.
I have preferred giving these data here to placing them imder the supposed species to which they refer, and
would earnestly recommend that in all cases of obsen-ations or experiments being made on these and other trees,
specimens o f leaves and flowers and fruit be dried between papers, accurately ticketed, and deposited in the Museum
o f the Society at Hobarton, and, if supposed to be unknown or undescribed, figured in the Royal Society’s Pro-
The genus Eucalyptus is at once recognized by its cup-shaped calyx o f various fonns, crowned with a deciduous
operculum (which assumes also many forms), and which consists o f the combined calyx and corolla. A frino-e of
free stamens crowns the mouth of the calyx, and the ft-uit is a three- to five-celled woody capsule, bm-sting by
short valves usually within the mouth of the caljx, and containing numerous smaU seeds, The leaves are invariably
opposite in the young plant, but are very rarely so in the old one ; when alternate, their surfaces are mostly
quite similar, and tbe petiole is half twisted, so that the plane of the leaf is parallel to the axis o f the tree. (Name
from ev, well, aud koXwtío, to cover ; in allusion to the operculum.)
§ 1. Leaves opposite at all periods o f growth.
1. Eucaljrptus cordata (Lab. N o v . H o ll. ii. 13. t . 152); foliis glaucis plerisque oppositis sessilibus
la te cordatis crenulatis, ramulis teretibus novellis tetragonis, floribus 3-4 pedúnculo brevissimo
sessilibus, operculo depresso cupula subglobosa breviore.— B e Cand. P ro d r . iii. 221. {Gunn, 1071.)
Hab. Recherche B ay and H u on River, L a b illa rd ie re , Gunn.— (F l. Oct.) (Cultivated iu England.)
A small tree, very confined in its locality, easily recognized by its sessüe, opposite, broadly cordate, blunt or
apiculate, crenate leaves, that are büobed at the hase.— Flowers generally in threes, almost sessÜe, Calyx obconic
when young, almost globose in fruit. Operculum short and broad.
M y r la c e e s ? ]
2. Eucalyptus Risdoni {Hook . fil. L oud. Journ. B o t. vi. 4 7 6 ) ; foliis oppositis connatisve ovato-
cordatis tnanguliir i-ovatisve acuti.«, pedunculis teretibus 3 -8 -flo r is, floribus parvis pedice llatis, calyce sub-
eloiigato, operculo brevi depresso, caiisula parva obovato-obconica, ore depresso margine lato, valvis parvis
immersis. {Gunn, 1 0 7 2 .) '
Hab. B anks o f the De rwent below Risdon, Gunn.— (F l. N o v .) {v. v.)
A small, glaucous, bushy tree, 8 -1 2 feet high, branching from the base, of which Mr. Gmm and I found a
single clump on tlie flanks o f a valley close to the Dei-went, a few mües above Hobarton, but on the opposite side
o f the river; its locality was cftcumscribed to a very few acres. It is allied to tbe E. pulverulenta of New South
Wales.— Barh smootli. Branches terete, slender. Leaves opposite, free or connate at the base, when free cordate,
ovate or tnangular-ovate, very acute. Flowers three to eight, pediceUed, on a slender peduncle | inch long, small.
Operculum depressed, shorter tban the obovate or obconic capsule.— P l a t e XXIV. Fig. 1, calyx with the oper-
cidmn and stamens removed.
§ 2. Leaves alternate in old trees,
a. Calyx and fi-u it distinctly angled, or with prominent ridges.
3 . Eucalyptus Globulus (Lab. V o y . i. 1 5 3 , t. 1 3 ) ; ramulis angulatis, fo liis petiolatis falcatis e
basi rotundata v. cuneata sensim elongato-lanceolatis acuminatis, floribus solitariis teruisve sessilibus v.
breve pedunculatis, calyce obconico crasso 4 -g o n o tubcrculato, .operculo tuberculato calyce æquilongo sed
latiore tuberculato apice mamilla crassa, capsula ore latissimo piano infra os valde constricto, valvis im mersis
parvis.— Xaô. N o v . H o ll. ii. 1 2 1 ; B e Cand. P ro d r. iii. 2 2 0 . {Gimn, 1 0 7 0 .)
Hab. Flinders’ Island, in Bass’ S traits; southern parts o f Tasmania, from forty miles north o f H o -
barton to the extreme south, abundant, L a h illa rd ih -e , etc .— (Fl. N o v ., D e c .) {v. v.) (B lu e Gum.)
D i s t r ib . S outh-east extremity o f Australia, from Victoria and Mou n t B u lle r to W ilso n ’s Promontory.
(Cultivated in E ngland.)
A very fine tree, conspicuous for its large leaves aud flowers, rapid gi-owtli, and poweifiil, almost offensive
odour, when crushed. Gunu remarks that though ahmidant in South-east Australia, aud even iu Flinders’ Island,
it is nowhere fouud in Tasmania except to the southward of sixty miles south o f Launcestou.— A tree 150 feet
high. Young p lan ts with vciy glaucous, opposite, broaiUy cordate, sessüe leaves. Old plan ts :— Branchlets angled.
U a v e s petioled, a span or more long, and 1 mch broad at the base, falcate, gradually tapering to an acuminate
point. Flowers sessile in the axils of the leaves, solitary or two or three together, shortly peduncled, ve iy variable
in size, rugose. Calyx four-angled, obconic. papside very woody, 4 inch broad, obconic, deeply constricted belou-
the top, with a very broad, flat, smooth mouth, and four or five smaU, sessüe valves.— MueUer sends specimens
from Gipps’ Land with very small, smooth flowers and capsides ; it is his var. y . coronifera (Hb. Hook.).
4 . Eucalyptus coccifera (H o ok . fil. Loud. Journ. B o t. vi. 4 7 7 ) ; ramis ramulisque teretibus lævibus,
foliis alternis (parvis) u nifonnibus e llipticis v. anguste lanceolatis lineari-lanceolatisve utrinque attenuatis
mucrone uncinato, pedunculis brevibus 3 -8 -flo r is , calycibus rugosis aneipitibus v . tetragonis, operculo calyce
breviore ct latiore rugoso centro depresso, capsula crassa late obcouica ore lato piano intra marginem caiia-
liculato, valvis 4 immersis.— H o oL B o t. M a g . t. 4 6 3 7 . {Gunn, 4 1 1 , 1 0 7 6 , 1 9 6 4 .) (Tab. X X V .)
I I ab. Tops o f all the mountains, elev. 3 - 4 0 0 0 feet, L awrence, Gunn, etc .— (El. D e c ., Jan.) [v. v.)
(Cultivated in E ngland.)
A smaU tree, 5 -1 5 feet high, generaUy very glaucous.—Ziave« petioled, alternate, 2 -3 inches long, naiTow-
elUptic, cUiptic-lanceolate, or very narrow-lanceolate, with a deciduous, hooked, acumiuate apex. Peduncles stout
three- to eight-flowered. Calyx obconic, shortly pedieelled, rugose. Operculum very much depressed, broad, shorter
than the calyx, rugose. Capsule four-angled, angles sometimes indistinct, or with two distinct ridges that sometimes