EUCALYPTUS TREES. 421 
by Messrs. Campbell and Burgess, one by Mr. Thom- 
son, and one by Mr. Tayser. To give an idea of the 
quantity of tea which is consumed at the present 
time, it may be stated that, from June to September, 
1871, 11,000,000 lbs. of tea were shipped from China 
alone to Australia, and that the produce of tea in India, 
from January to June of this year, has been 18,500,000 
Ibs. Seeds of the tea-bush are now in many parts of 
this colony locally to be gathered from plants distrib- 
uted by the writer, and for years to come the cultiva- 
tion of the tea- bush, merely to secure local supplies 
of fresh seeds, ready to germinate, will, in all likeli- 
hood, prove highly lucrative. Tea contains an alka- 
loid, coffein, a peculiar essential oil, and bohea - acid, 
along with other substances. 
Thrinax parviflora, Swartz,— West India, and also 
on the continent of Central America. The stem of 
this fan-palm attains a height of 25 feet. It belongs 
to the sand- tracts of the coast and may endure our 
clime. The fiber of this palm forms material for ropes. 
T. argentea, Lodd., is a closely-allied palm. The few 
other species of the genus deserve also trial - culture 
here. 
Thymelea tinctorea, Endl. (Passerina tinctoria, 
Pourr.) — Portugal, Spain, South France. <A small 
shrub. It yields a yellow dye. Cursorily it may be 
noted here that some of our pimelez contain a blue 
pigment, which has not yet been fully tested. Their 
bark produces more or less of daphnin, and of the vol- 
atile acrid principle for which the bark of Daphne 
Mezereum, L., is used. These are remarkably devel- 
oped in the Victorian Pimelea stricta, Meissn. The 
bark of many is also peryaded by a tough fiber, that 
