EUCALYPTUS LEAVES. 183 



sun, so that they avoid exposure to the full power of 

 its rays, and while pendant in this position have the 

 peculiarity of throwing no shade whatever upon the 

 ground below. Thus Colonel Mundy among other tra- 

 vellers mentions this curious fact, and says that: "the 

 foliage of the gum tree is so thin and pendulous that when 

 the sun is overhead, one rides through the bush, almost 

 as unsheltered as if there had been no trees. " * More- 

 over the leaves themselves are quite different in their 

 texture from those of most other trees : being extremely 

 thick, hard, and leather-like, so that in very dry times 

 they do not wither for want of moisture, as more 

 delicate foliage would naturally do. All of them, when 

 bruised, and forcibly broken up between the fingers, 

 have the peculiar aroma of eucalyptine and exhibit 

 a dry wiry texture, more resembling parchment than 

 living foliage; we speak, of course, of the old and 

 matured leaf, and not of the young foliage. Eucalypti 

 never shed their leaves after the manner of deciduous 

 trees (the number of deciduous varieties is very 

 small) ; their leaves all contain considerable quantities of 

 oil, and those of most species are strongly scented, and 

 very inflammable, but few of them are however eaten 

 by stock. The eucalypti as a rule are avoided by 

 grazing animals on account of their strong odour and 

 taste. 



The hot winds of Australia, which form so remark- 

 able a feature in the meteorology of that continent, as 

 we have not failed to point out in our section on 

 " Climates and Temperatures, " are sometimes exceed- 

 ingly trying to vegetation of all kinds, and their heat very 

 intense and temperatures of 110 F. and upwards have 



* Our Antipodes, by Lieut.-Colonel G. C. Mundy, Vol. ii., p. 28. 



