44 TASMANIAN TIMBERS. 



utilised in Tasmania. The Blue Gum has been largely 

 planted in Southern Europe, South Africa, Anierica, and 

 India, both for its timber — which it produces more rapidly 

 than almost any other tree — and for the beneficial effect it 

 has upon the climate of marshy and malarial districts. 

 The exhalation of its essential oil and its vigorous circula- 

 tion together purify the air, and make the soil more healthy. 



RED GUM (^Eucalyptus stuartiana). 



This variety produces timber very similar to the Blue 

 Gum, but of a red-brown colour. It is not a large tree, 

 and is rather branching. 



MUELLER'S GUM {Eucalyptus Muelleri). 



This is a fine, tall, straight tree, with a very heavy reddish 

 timber, hard and strong, but does not grow in quantity near 

 a shipping port. It is a valuable tree, and appears to stand 

 a considerable amount of frost. 



STRINGY BARK {Eucalyptus ohliqua). 



The distinguishing name ohliqua is from the leaf, the two 

 lobes of which are unequally divided by the midrib, and the 

 foot-stalk springs from one side obliquely, not from the 

 middle of the end of the leaf. It is termed Stringy Bark 

 from its bark, which is of great thickness and of a fibrous 

 nature. 



Stringy Bark trees are very much more widely distributed 

 through the Island than the Blue Gum ; growing over large 

 tracts of poor, hilly country, they attain to an immense 

 size, up to three hundred feet in height and from two to 

 ten feet in diameter. The wood is on the whole of a lighter 

 colour than Blue Gum, and varies from a pale straw to a 

 reddish brown. In appearance brown Stringy Bark is 

 somewhat like Oak, and it would be a difficult matter for 

 most people to distinguish a picture-frame made of Stringy 

 Bark from one made of Oak. 



