24 



Habitat. It occurs from the Clyde Mountain in the south, along the coast 

 ranges to North Queensland. Westward it is found as far as Wellington and 

 Dubbo, also at Mudgee. With E. crebra it is found from Dubbo to the 

 North-Western line. 



I shall be glad if correspondents will send me specimens from as many 

 southern and western (New South Wales) localities as possible. 



Mr. A. Murphy has collected it from Rockhampton, Queensland, and his 

 specimens are precisely similar to the Sydney ones. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE 148. 

 ^" \ Sucker-leaves from Smithfleld, near Parrainatta. 



B. ) 



c. Twig in bud. 



i). Fruits from the same branch. 



E. Smaller fruits from Smithfield. 



EuC'dyptus sideroxylon, A. Cumi. 

 THE MUGGA; A RED IRONRAKK. 



Botanical Name. Sideroxylon, from two Greek words sideros (iron), 

 ztylon (wood) in allusion to the hardness of the timber. It is an ironbark, 

 and the timber of the one now under review is one of the softest of the 

 Ironbarks. 



Vernacular Names. Its aboriginal name is in very common use, and it is 

 also known as " Red Ironbark " because of its timber, but the timbers of 

 other Ironbarks (e.g., siderophloia and crebra) are also red. For obvious 

 reasons it is also called " Red-flowering Ironbark." Sometimes it is called 

 * f Black Ironbark," because of the darkness of its bark. A very common 

 name is " Fat Cake," or " Fat-cake Ironbark," because of the pulverulent 

 look of the bark, interspersed as it is with blackish kino grains, the general 

 appearance reminding one of a burnt greasy cake. 



Flowers. This is the New South Wales species of Eucalyptus which most 

 frequently has red or rather pink or crimson flowers. Often, however, it 

 lias creamty white flowers. 



Fruit. The shape will be noted from the figure. A point worthy of 



remark is that it has a round rim or ring round the mouth, as is often seen 



in the smaller fruit of the Yellow Box (melliodora) . It also has warty 



'excrescences such as are seen in E. leucoxylon (from Victoria and South 



Australia), in E. maculata (Spotted Gum), and a few others. 



Bark. The bark of this species has been referred to under " Vernacular 

 Names." The xiltimate branchlets are smooth, while those of E. crebra 

 (another Red Ironbark often associated with it) are rough. 



Timber. The wood of this is the deepest in colour, and also the softest 

 and least valuable of the Ironbarks. The tree is often pipy and gnarled, 

 out in many places it is a fine timber tree. Where one of the other Tronbarks 

 is available, this Ironbark suffers by comparison; nevertheless, it is a useful 

 timiber, and is employed in public works for such purposes as railway 

 sleepers and posts, where long lengths are unnecessary. Frequently good 

 lengths cannot be obtained, and if they could the tensile strength of this 

 timber is not equal to that of the best Ironbark. 



