AND THEIR ESSENTIAL OILS. 57 



" It is very probable that Oldfield's, Woolls', and Muel- 

 ler's specimens belong to the tall tree, known as ' Moun- 

 tain Ash,' and since named by Mueller as E. Sieberiana, 

 whilst Sieber's specimens no doubt belong to the 

 dwarf tree or ' Mallee,' and, as Bentham found, quite 

 impossible of separation in dried material. If this is 

 correct, then Sieber's tree only differs in field and chemi- 

 cal characters, and on these we accept Sieber's name for 

 the mountain shrub which has identical morphological 

 characters with E ' . Sitbtrtana, F. v. M." 



Deane and Maiden at first (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 1897, 

 p. 719) were inclined to regard it as a glabrous form of K. 

 LuehtLanniana or a pointed operculum form oi K oh iu*i flora, 

 and to speak as definitely as possible define it as a 

 glabrous form of E. Lucltmannuina. Later, however 

 (Proc. A.A.A.S. 1902, Hobart), and in 1907 " Cr. Rev. 

 G. Eu." (Vol. I., p. 273), Maiden restores the name 

 E. virgatd, Sieb., placing under it E. obtusi flora, D C., 

 and E. xtric.ta, Sieb., which are arranged by Bentham in 

 his <4 Flora Australiensis " in the following order, 3, 9, 

 and 32, of his systematic classification of the Eucalypts, 

 thus showing that he regarded the material he examined of 

 the three as quite distinct. It seems hardly likely either 

 that Sieber, having himself collected his two species in the 

 field, should have given separate names to one and the 

 same tree, for he was thus able to speak from actual 

 acquaintance with their field characters, an experience 

 that is invaluable as regards a knowledge of the Eucalypts. 



The discovery, or rather the identification botanicaDy 

 and chemically, of this tree with the mainland one is of 

 scientific interest, for whereas the latter, as far as known, 

 is only a " Mallee " on the Blue Mountains in New South 

 Wales, in Tasmania it is a medium-sized tree. 



Mueller, in his " Eucalyptographia " (Dec. 11), under 

 " E. Sieberiana," states: "The specific appellation now 

 offered is also a new one, inasmuch as the original adjec- 

 tive ' virgata ' is very misleading, because only under very 

 exceptional circumstances is this usually tall timber-tree 

 reduced to a virgate or twiggy state; neither is there any- 

 thing streaked or striped about the stem to justify the 

 designation ' virgate ' in any other sense of the word." 



It would appear now, in view of our increased know- 

 ledge, that the name is very appropriate, for the Blue 

 Mountain specimens are all " twiggy or virgate," and the 

 bark of the Tasmanian tree is " streaked or striped," for 

 the hard compact bark runs down in streaks or ridges. 



