566 BOTANY OF THE INTERIOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 



doubt about its identity. The timber of this species is considered 

 to be ver}^ inferior, both in or out of the ground, and has a porous 

 appearance, though I have heard of an instance where it has 

 lasted very well in a wet place, A reference to the inflorescence 

 shows that the flowers are usually arranged in threes, though this 

 is by no means a constant feature, for even where at first sight 

 there appears to be no departure from this arrangement, a careful 

 inspection will often reveal umbels of fours and fives, or even 

 more."^ On the other hand, there are some trees of this species 

 which show scarcely any threes, but these I should say are greatly 

 in the minority. I have collected specimens from a tree near 

 Orange with buds arranged in threes, but a little lower on the 

 same branch with as many as seven mature fruits in the umbel, 

 thus showing that the same tree does not necessarily produce an 

 equal number every season. E. viminalis is one of the gum trees 

 from which manna is often collected, and has been referred to 

 under the name E. mannifera, A. Cunn. 



E. dives seems to be known everywhere as Peppermint, and 

 this name is suggested from the odour emitted by the leaves when 

 bruised. It is confined to the cold parts of New South Wales, 

 and may be generally separated from other Peppermints by its 

 broad stem-sucker f leaves. Usually it grows on ridges, and seems 

 to avoid alluvial flats. It has fibrous grey bark covering the 

 trunk and sometimes the larger branches, the older bark being 

 honey-combed in some cases, giving it a lace-like appearance. 

 The timber of this tree is not much prized. 



* Vide remarks by Messrs. Deane and Maiden. These Proceedings, 1901, 

 Part i., 139. 



t As the term "sucker" is strictly confined in botany to young plants 

 formed on underground rootstocks, while in Australia the same term is' 

 popularly applied to adventitious growths on various parts of the stem or 

 branches caused chiefly by that particular part of the tree being either cut 

 or bruised, it has been thought expedient in future to refer in these papers 

 to the latter form as " stem-suckers " by way of distinction, and to the former 

 as either " suckers" or " root-suckers." 



