90 THE EUCALYPTS OF GIPPSLAND. 



colonies on the ridges extending from the Tertiary tracts up to the high ranges forming 

 the spm-s of the moimtains. I have not ohserved it west of Toongahbie, where it ascends 

 the hills of Upper Sihirian sediment for about 6 miles northwards to 1000ft. in elevation. 

 I have also seen it growing extensively on the hills across which the road, known as the 

 Insolvent Track, runs from the Stockyard to Cobannah Creek. The formations here 

 are Upper Devonian, resting upon sediments which maybe either Devonian or Upper 

 Silurian. Its range north and south in this locality is at least 25 miles, and its 

 highest elevation probably over 1200ft. I have noted a third locality where this tree 

 occurs under precisely similar couditions, extending northwards on the spurs of the 

 mountains, skirted by the Tambo Valley-road. There it grows for several miles on 

 the Silurian sediments, northwards from the edge of the tertiary marine beds, and 

 reaches an elevation of at least 1000ft. I have little doubt that it will be found in the 

 intervening localities, and perhaps further to the eastward ; but of this I have no 

 direct evidence. 



It appears to grow to the largest size on the sands and sandy clays of South Gippsland, 

 where it forms most valuable forests. Its maximum height is 170ft. or thereabouts, 

 but more frequently 100ft. to 150ft. The bole is straight and rather massive, with mode- 

 rately spreading branches, and a fibrous and dark-grey bark, which is more deeply and 

 coarsely fissured than that of E. piperita, in fact, resembling the bark of E. capitellata, 

 where that species grows to a good size in favourable localities. The bark is 

 persistent up to the small boughs, which are more or less smooth. The leaves of the 

 aged trees are lanceolar, falcate, and more or less inequal-sided, rather dark green in 

 colour, equally shining on both sides, and usually three to five times as long as broad, 

 with a sharp apex. 



The seedlings have narrow lanceolar opposed leaves of a dark green, shining but 

 paler on the under side. In the earlier stages they are frequently more or less beset 

 with small tufts of hairs. I have noticed that the leaves are still opposed in young 

 2)lants 2ft. to 3ft. in height. In young saplings, and those some feet in height, the 

 leaves are rather broad lanceolar, or ovate lanceolar in shape, less shiny on the lower 

 page, much dotted with transparent pores, and rather thin in substance. A marked 

 feature in the saplings of this Eucalypt, and one by which it can be distinguished 

 almost at a glance from those of other stringybarks, is that the broadly lanceolar and 

 pointed leaves have a tendency to assume a horizontal position, rather than a vertical 

 one, and this gives the saplings a shining appearance. The stems of these saplings 

 and young trees are somewhat smoother than those of E. piperita, E. capitellata, or 

 E. macrorliyncha. 



The umbels are usually solitary, and there is a marked tendency in this Eucalypt 

 for them to become strongly panniculated. The Inids are from 3 to 12 in most 

 of the umbels. The stalk is frequently slightly flattened, and not much longer than 



