240 ODOEOGRAPHIA. 



have only been brought under notice during the past quarter of a 

 century ; and some allowance must be made to outsiders in respect 

 to their references to a genus so imperfectly hioum to Australians 

 themselves. The leaves and Howers are usually far removed from 

 the ground (especially the flowers), and some apparatus not usually 

 possessed by pedestrians, must be used to obtain the latter. They 

 are therefore comparatively unfamiliar ; this is doubtless partly 

 the reason why they are not better known."* 



As trees, the eucalypti are chiefly remarkable for their rapid 

 growth, some attaining an immense height, and having pro- 

 portionately thick trunks ; one specimen in Victoria, a fallen one^ 

 was found to measure 480 feet in length, and specimens of E. 

 oUiqua (the " String-bark ") have been felled in Tasmania, the 

 trunks of which measured oOO feet in height, and 100 feet in 

 circumference a yard from the ground. A plank of the " Swamp 

 gum " tree forwarded to the International Exhibition of 1863, 

 measured 230 feet in length.f 



The leaves of many of the species are of a thick leathery 

 texture, always quite entire, very variable in shape ; in young 

 plants they are always opposite, but they generally become 

 alternate as the plant gets older, and their stalks then acquire a 

 peculiar twist, so that the leaves present their edges to the 

 branches. The flowers grow from the angles between the leaves 

 and stem, and and are either solitary or in clusters. The calyx 

 is hard and woody and separates into two pieces, the upper of 

 which resembles a lid or cover, and falls away in a single piece 

 when the flower opens, carrying along with it the corolla, which 

 is intimately combined with it, while the lower piece is persistent, 

 and bears the very numerous stamens which form a fringe round its 

 summit. The fruit is closely enveloped in the woody calyx. 



* The task of identification has, however, been greatly lessened by Von. 

 Mueller's researches, published in his very valuable illustrated nionoj^raph, 

 entitled " Eucalyptographia." 



+ For particulars as to the strength of the timber of these gum trees, see 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, 1862, p. 571 ; the timber yielded by some of the species, 

 notably that of E. r/lobnlus, E. marginata ("Jarrah" or Mahogany of South. 

 West Australia) and E. robusta (•'Ked-gum" of South Australia) is extremely 

 valuable, not only on account of its strength, but by reason of its durability 

 under water and its immunity from attacks by white ants. 



