DICHOTOMOUS KEY TO THE EUCALYPTUS, 523 
No. 9.—A SHORT DICHOTOMOUS KEY TO THE 
HITHERTO KNOWN SPECIES OF EUCALYPTUS. 
By J. G. Lurumany, F.L.S. (Curator, National Herbarium, 
Melbourne. ) 
(Read Tuesday, January 11, 1898.) 
Tue scheme herewith laid before the members of the Association, 
to classify the species of the genus Eucalyptus according to the 
fruits, is not, I may state at the outset, meant to supersede the 
excellent anther-system introduced by Bentham ; the latter being 
in my opinion the most reliable which, with our present know- 
ledge, can be devised. Frequently, however, when specimens are 
gathered, expanded flowers, or even well-advanced buds, are not 
available, while nearly every adult tree bears fruits as well as 
young flower- buds, and in most cases, though not in all, the species 
can by their aid and that of the leaves be determined with toler- 
able accuracy. The present arrangement should, therefore, be 
looked upon as devised to act as an auxiliary guide only, without 
any full descriptions, and is for this reason submitted in the form 
of a key. The primary character chosen is that of the fruit-valves, 
whether quite enclosed or whether the points protrude beyond the 
rim, or whether the top of the fruit is convex with every part 
raised above the rim ; secondarily, the shape and size of the fruit 
are taken into consideration. De Candolle’s classification, based 
on the shape of the operculum, is relied wpon for further sectional 
divisions. While the majority of the species are without difficulty 
assigned to their respective divisions, there are others. which form 
a transit and, in these cases doubts will arise, especially when 
we consider their remarkable variability. Even with complete 
material I have sometimes found it difficult to fix the limits of a 
species, although I devoted a great deal of time to the study to 
the genus while assisting the late Baron von Mueller in the 
elaboration of his Eucalyptographia, for which I worked up the 
very extensive material that had accumulated since the publica- 
tion of the third volume of the Flora Australiensis. This mut- 
ability of form is well illustrated by the fact that a dozen kinds, 
raised from Australian seeds, have been described as new species 
in Europe and America by botanists of repute, although it seems 
improbable that they would receive seeds of a single species that 
had not already come under Baron von Mueller’s notice. While 
