AND THEIR ESSENTIAL OILS. 51 



[ri this connection the following remarks of Hooker 

 in his "Flora Tasmania " (p. 132) are interesting: 

 " In the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania I 

 find some very valuable notices respecting the Blue Gum, 

 Swamp Gum, Stringy Bark, Peppermint Gum, Myrtle- 

 leaved Gum, Ash Gum, Ironwood, Mountain Gum, Weep- 

 ing Gum, Black-butt Gum, and White Gum. The Swamp 

 Gum and Stringy-bark are perhaps both referable to my 

 ft. gigantea, under which two species may be confounded 

 by me, or the Swamp Gum may be some other species 

 attaining a gigantic size in damp hollows. Mr. Mitchell 

 describes the Swamp Gum as so very like the E. globulus 

 as not to be easily distinguished, but with smaller leaves 

 and thinner bark, as being the largest of the genus, and 

 growing twice as fast as ft . glob id as ; he mentions trees 

 250 feet to the first branch. The Stringy-bark he dis- 

 tinguishes by its much thicker, fibrous bark; Mr. Milligan, 

 however, adds in a note that this Stringy-bark is the most 

 gigantic of all, that it is well named gigantta by me, and 

 that he has measured a sound trunk 64 feet in girth at 4 

 feet above the ground, arid 200 feet high to where it was 

 broken off, and containing 200 tons of timber." 



Here we see that Hooker suspects that he has con- 

 founded two species under his E . gigantea of that particu- 

 lar work, and indeed he really has, for the " Swamp 

 Gum " is known as E '. regnans, and " Stringy-bark " (E. 

 gigantea) as the true E. obliqua; but he has even gone 

 further, and included by slight references E . Delegatensis 

 (Gunti's specimens). 



His figure (loc. cit.) might pass for any of these three. 



Hooker's common name of " Stringy-bark " in the " Lon- 

 don Journal of Botany " must refer to E. obliqua, for that 

 is practically the only true " Stringy-bark " in Tasmania. 



Baron von Mueller, who certainly gave the subject seri- 

 ous study, correctly places Hooker's E. gigantea under 

 E ' . obliqua in his " Eucalyptographia," and, like Hooker, 

 refers to it as the Stringy-bark tree of Tasmania. 



Hooker's description of E . gigantta (" London Journal 

 of Botany ") faithfully describes E '. obliqua, whilst his 

 description in " Flora Tasmaniae " is certainly a compo- 

 site one. 



It is a well-marked species, with a wide geographical 

 range, and is quite constant in specific and chemical char- 

 acter, whether found in Northern New South Wales on 

 the mainland, or in Tasmania, where it is the most com- 

 mon " Stringy-bark." 



