TIMBERS OF THE COLONY. 169 



most varied cliaractei', but rarely iiicludes Eucalypts. In open forests 

 on the other hand, Kucalypts t'orin the prcviiiling vegetation in the 

 coast districts, and frequently attain a great size. As compared witli 

 brush forests the soil is less rich and moist. Of the open forest timbers 

 (including she-oaks, cypress pine, &c.), we may say that we possess 

 a fair knowledge; it is mainly in regard to the brush-timbers tliat 

 our knowledge is defective. This results from a variety of causes. 

 In brushes the variety of trees is very great, and they are less gre- 

 garious than those of the open forest. 'J'here is a good deal of uni- 

 formity in the barks of the trees, — a nearly smooth bark being of 

 very common occurrence, while the trees are so close together, that 

 their leafy tops intertwine, and it is impossible, in many cases, to get 

 a fair idea of the shape and general appearance of a particular tree. 

 Only those who have visited our dense northern brush forests can form 

 an idea of the difficulty of distinguishing more than a few kinds of 

 trees. The massive trees, wonderfully vertical, remind one of cathe- 

 dral columns ; craning the neck for an upward view in the dim forest 

 light is inconvenient and even painful, and results in only general 

 impressions, while if a gun be fired with the view of bringing down a 

 twig for purposes of identification, the probabilit}- is that it cannot be 

 stated, with certainty, from what particular tree the specimen has 

 fallen. If one cuts through a tree, it very often happens that other 

 trees prevent its falling down, and thus its leafy top is nut available 

 for examination. 



Botanical C lass iji cation of Trees. 



The principal forest vegetation of the Colony consists of trees 

 belonging to the genus Eucalyptus. Those which have smooth (or 

 comparatively smooth) trunks are known as gums, and this term is 

 qualified by adjectives such as white, blue, and red. A white gum 

 has a white trunk. A blue gum has a trunk or leaves (or both) with 

 a bluish cast. A red gum has the timher red, and so on. Others 

 have rough bark, thus those with a rugged, hard bark (accompanied 

 by a timber of great hardness and durability) are known as iron- 

 barks ; those with a thick, fibrous bark (accompanied by a timber 

 which is very fissile) are known as stringybarks. The common names 

 for the various kinds of Eucalypts are very numerous, and they vary 

 so much in different localities, and also for the same tree, that an 

 accurate knowledge of them can only be acquired by much travel and 

 study. 



The natural allies of Eucalyptus are the other genera l)elonging to 

 the Myrtacete, of which the principal are Atu/ojihora (apple-trees), 

 Syncarpia (turpentine), 2 V/.s/o^rm ' (brush-box and water gum), 

 Melaleuca (tea-trees), and Ewjenia (myrtles). 



The next genus to Eucalyptus in point of number of arboreal species 

 is Acacia, which includes many trees generally known sim]ily as wattles, 

 or qualified by the prefix black, green, silver, goldeu, broad-leaved, 

 weeping, &c. Other Acacias are known as hickory, blackwo.xl, myall, 

 boree, mulga, brigalow, dead finish, sally, gidgee, yarran, ironweod, 

 and a host of other names. The Acacias rarely form forest trees of tlie 

 largest size. 



