BY R. T. BAKER. 607 



of specific rank. It would appear now that Casuarinas, like 

 Eucalypts, cannot always bedetermined satisfactorily on herbarium 

 material alone. 



In botanical sequence it is placed after C. stricta, Ait., as it 

 has -branchlets and sheath-teeth similar to that species and some- 

 what similar fruit. 



Baron von Mueller in his Fragmenta (Vol. x. p. 115) describes 

 a species of Casuarina under the name of C. lepidophloia, from 

 imperfect material, and so it is rather difficult to know to what 

 ti'ee he refers. Through the kindness of Mr. J. G. Luehmann, 

 F.L.S., Curator of the National Herbarium, Melbourne, I have 

 been enabled to examine the specimens on which Mueller founded 

 his species, and except in the diameter of the leaflets (in some 

 cases) there is nothing to connect it with this new species. The 

 bark of " Belah " is certainly not " flaky." 



Mueller states (^loc. cit.) that C. le/ndophloia occurs amongst 

 C. ylauca, but this needs some explanation, as C. glauca is not 

 found in the interior; perhaps it was this particular species that 

 he referred to under C. glauca, Sieb. The timber of this tree is 

 so characteristic that had Baron von Mueller intended his descrip- 

 tion to apply to this species he would have described or referred 

 to so peculiar a wood. The valves are rarely "fulvous pubescent," 

 but nearly always whitish. 



This new species is also one of the largest trees of the interior. 



Timber. — The most marked specific difference of " Belah" is, as 

 stated above, in the character of its timber. C . glauca, Sieb., 

 ("Swamp Oak") has the usual timber characteristics of "She 

 Oaks," but this tree possesses a timber quite distinct from that of 

 any other of the Natural Order. The medullary rays can only 

 with difficulty be traced, and whilst all other Casuarinco timbers 

 split on the quarter, this timber splits more readily at right 

 angles to the rays, and this is one of the timber-getter's tests for 

 the species. AVhen "dressed" it has very little figure, is of a 

 yellowish colour, close-grained, hard, and, in fact, more resembles 

 English Hornbeam than any other Australian timber that has 



