188 A RESEARCH ON THE EUCALYPTS OF TASMANIA 



EUCALYPTUS OBLIQUA, L'Her. 



[Syn. : E. gigantea, Hook. f. (" Lond. Journ. Bot." 

 VI. 479. 1847), and 

 E. gigantea, Hook. f. (" Fl. Tas." 1859), partim.] 



f" Stringy-bark." J 



Botany. 



Historical. — This was the first species of the genus 

 described, the author being L'Heritier. who recorded it in 

 1788 in " Sertum Anglicum " (18, t. 20). 



Hooker redescribed it under the name of E. gigantea 

 (" Lond. Journ. Bot." VI. 479. 1847). 



Bentham, in his " Flora Australiensis " (Vol. III., p. 

 204), acknowledged its specific rank, whilst placing under 

 it as synonyms E. gigantea, Hook. f. E. falcifolia,, Miq., 

 and E. nervosa, F. v. M. (1866). 



Mueller also describes and figures it in his " Eucalypto- 

 graphia " (Dec. III. 1879). 



Remarks. — Hooker, when he described his species of 

 E. gigantea in the " London Journal of Botan}'^ " (VI% 

 479. 1847), was unaware that L'Heritier had described 

 the species under the name of E . ohliqua, as his (Hooker's) 

 description (loc. cit.) applies in every detail to this 

 species, for it is indeed " the Stringy-bark colonorum, 

 and abundant throughout Tasmania," as stated by him, 

 and is to-day the " Stringy-bark " of the island. 



When writing his "Flora Tasmaniae " (1859), Hooker, 

 having, in addition to his own, Gunn's and other collec- 

 tors' material to work upon, included two other trees 

 under his original name in his classical work. One grow- 

 ing intermixed with E . ohliqua has since been separated 

 by Mueller under the name of E . regnans, and the other, 

 growing at 4000 feet elevation, known as " Stringy-bark 

 Gum " or " Gum-topped Stringy-bai"k," was described 

 by one of us in Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. in 1900, under 

 the name of E, Delegatensis. 



These three trees occur at different altitudes, and the 

 respective species in the above order can be traced in 

 Hooker's two descriptions {loc. cit). Hooker's reference 

 that " trees are felled in the valleys at the foot of Mt. 

 Wellington," in his " Flora Tasmanise," evidently refers 

 to this species and E . regnans, for they only occur on the 

 lower elevations there — the tree of the higher altitudes is. 

 E. Delegatensis in the same quotation. 



