02 



forcHCC of nine inches, and then divided into two branches, 

 the total height of the tree was seven feet, with a circum- 

 ference of foliage of eighteen feet. The usnal length of the 

 leaves when full-grown, including the long foot-stalk, was four 

 feet ten inches to live feet ; the base of the long foot-stalk of 

 each leaf clasp the trunk, in a similar manner to the fronds of 

 the palm, and on being detached when dead, leave a mark on 

 the trunk. The trees when young grow straight, and have a 

 handsome and highly ornamental appearance, and are of very 

 rapid growth, but after six or seven years, judging from the 

 trees in Sydney, they for the most part lose their beauty, and 

 throw off straggling branches, by which the tree is deprived of 

 its elegant, graceful, and shady foliage, which forms so 

 luxuriant a crown of leaves in the young trees ; every year 

 after flowering new branches are formed, and the foliage 

 diminishing in size is the cause of the beauty of the tree being 

 lost, but as the tree is very prolific in suckers, and is of very 

 cjuick growth, — being a handsome shrub in less than twelve 

 months, — after a few years when they cease to be ornamental, 

 I should recommend the old trees to be removed and give 

 place to young plants. The Eice Paper Tree flowers once 

 every year, about the end of the months of May and in June, 

 and at that season imparts great beauty to the gardens, 

 attracting a number of bees and other insects, no doubt for 

 the nectar secreted by the flowers. As the tree increases in 

 size, it loses all its value for the pith as an article of commerce, 

 and can then only be regarded as an ornamental tree for the 

 garden or shrubbery for a few years. In the young bifurcated 

 branches, the pith was also found to be well formed, and some 

 prepared measured one inch in diameter. The bark of the 

 tree is rough, and the wood, which is of a white color, is close 

 grained, hard, heavy, and apparently durable, there is a 

 mucilaginous substance secreted between the bark and the 

 wood, which emits a strong smell resembling that of hemlock 

 It has been remarked that after the suckers are removed from 

 the parent tree, not potted, but at once planted into the 

 ground, they will not again bear transplanting, those removed 

 under these circumstances having perished. 



The stem near the junction of the foot-stalk, as also the 

 foot-stalk of the leaves, is densely covered with a kind of 

 down of a rich brown color, and which is readily removed on 

 the slightest touch ; the young foliage just beginning to expand 

 is also abundantly covered with this material. This clown 

 when placed under the microscope at 200 diameters exhibits a 

 a stellate form with rays of unequal length. 



The pith produced in this colony may be usefully applied to 

 the manufacture of solar hato, now so much worn during the 



