135 



71. Eucalyptus sideroxylon. 



(A. Cunn., in Mitch. Trop. Aim., 339, name only.) 

 Red Flowering Ironbark. 



Systematic. A tree occasionally as high as coo feet. Bark persistent, 

 rough, black, very deeply furrowed. Abnormal leaves similar in shape to the 

 normal ones, only slightly smaller. Normal leaves lanceolate, slightly falcate, 

 under 6 inches long; venation indistinct, lateral veins fine, spreading, intramar- 

 ginal vein removed from the edge. Penducles slender, axillary, about 1 inch 

 long. Flowers fairly large, about six in the umbel, mostly red but occasionally 

 white. Calyx about 3 lines long, elongated, on a slender pedicel from 3 to 4 lines 

 long, 3 huts in diameter ; operculum equal in length to the calyx, conical, obtuse. 



Fruit. Globular, truncate, contracted at the edge, 

 the pedicel lengthening after flowering ; 

 rim concave after the removal of the 

 primary one, which becomes detached 

 when the capsule ripens, this latter feature 

 readily distinguishes the fruits from most 

 other species; valves inserted; 4 lines in 

 diameter. 



A deciduous secondary rim is found onlv in this and 

 in a few other species, such as E. leucoxylon, E. 

 caerulea, and sometimes E. melliodora. 



Habitat. — Coast district of New South Wales, Queensland and 

 Victoria. 



REMARKS. — Cunningham's name of E. sideroxylon is retained for this tree, winch was 1 ' mentioned in 

 Mitchell's '"Tropical Australia," p. 339. To Dr. Woolls (Proc. Linn. Soc. X.S.W , p. 856) is due the credit of 

 proving conclusively that both Mueller and Bentham included two distinct trees under the name of E. leucoxylon 

 < ' r.. the South Australian "White Gum" and this "Red-flowering Ironbark." They differ m bark, timber, flowers, 

 fruits and anthei.s. .'nd probably chemical constituents. This Ironbark is very constant in specific characters 

 throughout its extensive range in New South Wales and Victoria. The colcui of, the flowers, however, vary from 

 1 ream to li'^ht pink. The bark i . also black and friable. 



ESSENTIAL OIL. — Leaves and terminal branchlets for distillation were 

 obtained from Liverpool, X.S.W'., in December, 1900. The yield of oil was 0-75 

 per cent. The crude oil was of a reddish-yellow colour, and had an odour 

 resembling the eineol-pinene class of Eucalyptus oils. The usual amount of 

 volatile aldelndes for oils of this group was present. The oil was rich in 

 cineol; pinene was present, but phellandrene was absent. An aldehyde was 

 present in the higher boiling fraction, together with the sesquiterpene. The 

 rectified oil was of good quality for a cineol oil, and was slightly coloured yellow, 

 a character traceable to the influence oi the phenols. In general characters 

 the oil was not in entire agreement with those of the "Ironbarks" generally. 



This species has been worked for its oil to some extent in the Bendigo 

 1 'istrict of Victoria, where the yield usually exceeds 1 per cent. 



I he crude oil had specifii gravity a1 15 C. = 0-9227; rotation a + 1-9°, 

 refractive index at 20 = 1-4668, and was soluble in i| volumes 70 per cent, 

 alcohol. The saponification number for the esters and Eree acid was 2-5. 



