MYRTLE AND EUCALYPTUS. 77 



bird, must admit no ray of light. In fact, our ideal 

 tree is not unlike an Oak. 



No wonder then that the Eucalyptus finds little 

 favour in our eyes, since it departs from all our 

 preconceived ideas. The trunk is not gnarled and 

 knotted, but straight and smooth and pillar-like ; the 

 branches stretch forth far above the ground, so that 

 there is no shadow at the base ; and through the 

 scattered blue-green foliage the light and air pass 

 freely. 



The Eucalyptus glolulus (Fig. 30) will not stand 

 cutting ; we must not judge the tree by those specimens 

 at the Nice station which have had their tops lopped off. 

 Froude, who had the advantage of seeing the tree in 

 its native country, has formed a high opinion of its 

 beauty. The universal Eucalyptus, he says, " which I 

 had expected to find grey and monotonous, is a 

 proteus in shape and colour ; now branching broadly, 

 now feathered like a Birch, or glowing like an 

 Arbutus, with an endless variety of hue, green, 

 orange, and brown." Even those writers who are 

 least disposed to admire the Eucalyptus admit that 

 the genus contains trees of striking, and often 

 picturesque aspect. 



Though the corolla is wanting, the tasseled 

 flowers have a beauty of their own ; and the four- 

 cornered fruits, with the frosty bloom which covers 

 them when young, are not less ornamental. A point 

 not often noticed is the delicate tinting of the trunk 

 when the long strips of bark have fallen away. You 

 may try in vain to count the various shades of grey 

 and green and pink and brown that decorate the bole. 



Beneath the trees the ground is strewn with the 



