296 THREE NEW SPECIES OF EUCALYPTUS, 



and colour of timber, but a further examination of the various 

 parts of the tree and the aid of chemistry have led me to alter 

 my earlier opinions. 



The sucker and mature leaves of both species are different as 

 well as the venation. The leaves of "Slaty Gum" are almost 

 always glaucous as well as the buds and fruits, a feature rarely 

 found in E. j^olyanthema, Schau. The timber is of excellent 

 quality and equal to Ironbark in durability; in fact I half suspect 

 that this species is the "Grey Gum-tree" of W. Hill referred to 

 by Baron von Mueller (Eucalyptographia, Decade iv.) and placed 

 under E. crehra, F.v.M. The fruits and the timber of the two 

 species certainly are similar, but they agree in no other character 

 and therefore should not be confounded. 



The differences between it and E. largijiorens, F.v.M., are found 

 in the venation, shape of fruits, anthers, size and habitat of tree, 

 and quality of timber, as well as the chemical constituents of the 

 oil. 



According to Bentham's anthereal system, this species is placed 

 in the section PorantheriB of the Eucalypts. The shape of the 

 leaves allies it with E. laryiflorens, F.v.M., and the fruits to E. 

 crehra, although this latter species belongs to the section Parallel- 

 antherte of Eucalypts. The smooth bark and reddish timber give 

 it some affinity with E. polyanthema, but it differs from this 

 species in other characters and products. It is, however, more 

 closely allied to E. jwlyanthema and E. largijiorens than to any 

 other species, and in botanical sequence is placed after the former. 



Timber. — The timber varies in colour from pinkish to the dark 

 red shade of the "Broad-leaved Ironbark," E. siderophloia, Benth., 

 from which timber it is often impossible to distinguish it either 

 macroscopically or microscopically. It is a very hard, close, 

 straight-grained timber, possessing all the qualities of our most 

 ■durable and valuable " Ironbarks." 



" In lower ground, or the valleys between hills where the rock 

 appears more decomposed, it rises to 100 or 120 feet, and is a fine 

 tree. The wood of the Slaty Gum is considered by practical men 

 to be as good and durable as Ironbark. It is red in colour, easily 



