602 BOTANY OF THE INTERIOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 



Four of these species are what are known as Mallees, a name 

 applied to those dwarf Eucalypts which throw out a cluster of 

 stems from one root, and also grow in clumps or scrubs from a few- 

 acres up to several hundred. They prefer slightly elevated land 

 (not necessarily high ridges), never being found on river flats. 

 In this they are the exact anthithesis of E. microtheca and Acacia 

 pendula (Myall or Boree). The leaves are full of oil, and around 

 Cobar where these trees are plentiful there is certainly a great 

 future in store for the oil industry. As the trees are short the 

 leaves are easily accessible, and pruning them stimulates the 

 growth, so that it might almost be said the supply is inexhaus- 

 tible. 



The Mallees are all easily separated by their fruits, but a 

 bushman would recognise E. Morrisii, Baker, as being the 

 shortest, having fairly broad leaves, rather rough flaky brown to 

 grey bark, getting whiter near the top, the softest wood, and 

 being more easily torn out by the roots than any of the others. 

 The fruits are large, often in threes, and might be confused with 

 some forms of E. tereticomis, Sm., or E. viminalis, Labill. The 

 trees average from 10 to 15 ft. high, with a diameter from 2 inches 

 to 6 inches. The wood reminds one of E. dealhata, F.v.M., and 

 in other ways seems to have affinities with it, but I have seen 

 both growing on one hill, and they are quite distinct. 



E. viridis, Baker, is known as Whipstick Mallee from its erect 

 slender stems. Its fruits are generally small, but vary in size very 

 much. The bark is brown at the base and white above. This is 

 the most easily distinguished of all the Mallees owing to its 

 narrow green leaves. In some cases it grows as a single tree 50 

 feet high and a foot in diameter. The wood is hard. The form 

 of Mallee growing at Mount Victoria, and known as E. stricta, 

 Sieb., might, apart from the fruits, be confused by a casual 

 observer with E. viridis owing to a similarity in the texture of 

 the leaves. 



E. oleosa, F.v.M., is often called Red Mallee from the colour 

 of the wood. Its stems are slightly crooked, and have rather a 



