AT^Ot'ST 1. 1915 



627 



low t'lecziiijr. Tliis restricts the eucalypti 

 to the warmer valleys alont^ the Mexican 

 border, and to California. Practically all 

 of the varieties seem to do best in a semi- 

 arid countiy. They siTow without iiTig'ation 

 in California where there is but a few inches 

 of rainfall. Some of the species will stand 

 more frost than others, the amount of frost 

 a tree will stand dependinsi" somewhat on 

 the condition of the tree. If the weather 

 has been cool for some time they will stand 

 temperatures of 2") degrees to 20 degrees 

 Falir. without injury. Florida is a poor' 

 place for the eucalyptus by reason of the 

 sudden changes in the temperature. In Gov- 

 ernment Bulletin 35. Bureau of Forestry, 



^,.. 



a. \!\\p sum: Vi, red gum; v, blue gum; d, lemon 

 gum ; 0, Union S'lui. 



Prof. MeClatchie quotes as follows from 

 Col. G. IT. Morton, of Eustis, Florida: " All 

 eucalypti do well, but are killed to the 

 ground when severe blizzards come and 

 mercury falls below 20 degrees Fahr. The 

 trouble with the climate is, we have warm 

 weather nearly all the time in winter, with 

 an occasional cold wave." 



There are very few of the species that 

 have common names, and quite often the 

 =;ame name is applied to several species. 

 A< cording to Prof. McClatcliie, twelve dif- 



foicnl species of the eucalyptus are, by the 

 geneial i)ul)li(', (ailed blu;; gum; s^nen are 

 called flooded gum; eight are called iron- 

 bark; nine are called red gum; eleven dif- 

 ferent species are known as stringy-bark, 

 and the name "white gnm" is applied to 

 thirteen different species. By leason of 

 this dearth of common names the botanical 

 names have to be used, and here it might be 

 well to say that the botanical names refer 

 to some prominent feature of the tree. For 

 example, Kucalyptns glolndus is so called 

 from, the globular seed-case. Eucalyptus 

 lungi folia is so called by reason of the long 

 lea^■es. Eucalyptus mcllidora means " honey- 

 scented," from ilie fragrance of the blossoms. 

 Eucalyptus rohusta is so called by 

 reason of the robust appearance of 

 the tree. Eucali/ptus sidcropholia 

 means '' iron-bark," and is so called 

 by reason of the nature of the bark. 

 Eucalyptus diversicolor is named 

 from the varied color of the foliage, 

 and the Eucalyptus cornuia means 

 " horned" because of the horn-like 

 cups over the immatui'c blossoms. 



Tliere is considerable difficulty in 

 distinguishing the different species of 

 eucalyptus. ]n fact, it is admitted by 

 the best authorities that it is practi- 

 cally impossible to distingniish them 

 in jnany cases until the trees bloom 

 and the seed-pods mature. 



To obtain an idea of the vastness 

 of the study of eucalyptus Ave 

 have but to consider the fact that 

 Baron von Muller spent considerable 

 of his time for a period of fifty years 

 in the study of eucalypti. He de- 

 scribed about 100 di.*¥erent species, 

 and recognized 30 more, but died be- 

 fore he completed his work. 



The foliage of the eucalyptus va- 

 ries considerably^ In some the leaves 

 are bluish, others grayish-gi-een, and 

 still others veiy dark. Some of the 

 leaves hang edgewise to the sky, and 

 some flat. In some species the leaves 

 on the young shoots are round or flat and 

 opposite; but after the treas obtain a few 

 years of age the leaves are never opposite. 

 The prevailing shape of the leaves i» lance- 

 shaped and somewhat cun^ed. The leaves 

 of the different species vary considerably 

 in length, being from three to fourteen 

 inches long. 



The blossoms of the eucalyptus are mostly 

 white or greenish-white, there being excep- 

 tions however. Some trees have a brilliant 

 red or pink blosson, the red iron-bark be- 

 ing one of the trees in the latter class. Ku- 

 calyptns can be found in blossom at all sea- 



