556 Development of the tf.o. myrtacbjs, 



the Bloodwoods. The members of the group possess widely diver- 

 gent, almost transverse, secondary venation; the leaves are of 

 luxuriant type; the principal oil is probably pinene; the anthers 

 possess parallel cells opening in longitudinal slits; the flowers are 

 corymbose; the fruits are urceolate, the valves deeply enclosed; 

 and the soil in which they grow, is of the poorest sandy nature. 

 Another point in which they conform to the generalised type of 

 Myrtaceae is, that they are confined to the warmer and peripheral 

 portions of the continent, avoiding the deserts and the colder por- 

 tions of Australia. Of these forms, two only, E. calophylla and E. 

 ficifolia, grow in South- Western Australia. [E. sepulchralis is an 

 aberrant member of the group, in which the anthers and the leaf- 

 venation have been much modified.] Fifteen belong to the northern 

 portion of Australia, namely, E.Abergiana, E. elavigera, E. corym- 

 bosa, E. dichromophloia, E.ferruginea, E . Foelscheana, E. miniata, 

 E. peltata, E. perfoliata, E. phoenicea, E. pyrophora, E. ptycho- 

 carpa, E. setosa, E. terminalis, and E. Watsoniana; while six be- 

 long to the eastern side of Australia, namely, E. corymb osa, E. 

 eximia, E. intermedia (R. T. Baker), E. terminalis, E. trachy- 

 phloia, and E. Watsoniana. Of these, E. pyrophora and E. inter- 

 media are very close to E. corymbosa. E. maculata, E. botryoides, 

 E. resinifera, E. robusta, E. saligna, and E. tesselaris are generally 

 considered as belonging to the Bloodwoods, but they are all aber- 

 rant types in which either the bark and fruits, or the soils in 

 which they grow, differ from the generalised type, and the soil in 

 which the Bloodwood-type flourishes. 



These points, as also the fact that E. setosa, E. peltata, E. per- 

 foliata, and E. ferruginea, in the North, possess the peculiar leaves 

 similar to the generalised type of the Order, strongly suggest that 

 the cradle of the Eucalypts was in the north of Australia. This 

 group, moreover, frequently possesses brightly coloured stamens, 

 and exhibits strong affinities with the Angophoras. 



A smaller section, namely, the Eudesmiese, with opposite leaves, 

 peculiar fruits, stamens, and notched calyces, is found in Northern 

 and Western Australia. These also appear to preserve traces of 

 the early Eucalypt-leaves. So peculiar is this group, that Robert 



