44 



13. Eucalyptus nova-anglica. 



(H.D. & J.H.M., Proc. Linn. Soc., N.S.W., 1899, p. 616, PI. L.) 

 Black Peppermint of New England, N.S.W. 



Systematic. A medium-sized tree, with a dark straight bark, thinner 

 than that of E. Bridgesiana, R.T.B., semi-persistent on the trunk, more or 

 less ribbony on the boughs, and deciduous on the ultimate branchlets. Abnormal 

 leaves glaucous, often 3 inches long and 2| inches broad ; orbicular to cordate, 

 often stem clasping. Normal leaves lanceolate, and, when fully mature, 3 to 4 

 inches long and ^ inch wide on the average ; veins strongly marked, pinnate, 

 and anastomising, the intramarginal vein at some distance from the 

 edge. Buds from two or three to six in an umbel ; on a flattened stalk of 

 about J inch ; the stalklets less flattened and less than half the length of the 

 stalks. The buds glaucous and often pink or purplish, ovoid, the top of the 

 operculum somewhat pointed ; the operculum usually about the same size as 

 the calyx tube. The flowers are usually borne in great profusion. 



Fruit. Usually glaucous, but sometimes entirely 

 glabrous ; hemispherical with a well-de- 

 fined, more or less domed rim ; the three 

 or four valves sometimes well exserted ; 

 2\ lines long, 2 to 3 lines in diameter. 



Habitat. New England district, New South Wales. 



ESSENTIAL OIL. Leaves and terminal branchlets for distillation were first 

 forwarded to the Museum in Sept., 1899, by Mr. J.F. Campbell from Walcha, N.S.W. 

 The yield of oil was 0-5 per cent. Later, in the years 1907 and 1910, a somewhat 

 extensive investigation was undertaken with the oils of this species growing in 

 the New England District, N.S.W., the results of which were published by us in 

 the Proc. Roy. Soc., N.S.W., Nov., 1911. Material was obtained for distillation 

 from the following localities : Black Mountain, near Guyra, in August, 1907 ; 

 Uralla, in July, 1907; Armidale (where it is known as " Red Peppermint"), in 

 June, 1907 ; and from Tenterfield, in January, 1910. The material from which 

 the original data were obtained, and published in the first edition of this work, 

 was collected in September, 1899, a * the time of the year when the lower boiling 

 terpenes might be expected to be present in greatest amount. The crude oils 

 of all the samples were red in colour, due to the action of the phenols on the iron 

 removed from the still ; inclined to be viscid, owing to the excess of sesquiterpene, 

 and had a terpene odour not at all distinctive. Light did not pass well with 

 the crude oils until the colour had been removed. The principal constituents 

 in the oil were dextro-rotatory pinene, and the sesquiterpene, of which latter 

 constituent more than half the oil consisted. Cineol was present in minute 

 quantity only, at any time of the year. The peppermint ketone (piperitone) 

 does not appear to occur in the oil of this species, so that the vernacular name 

 ' Peppermint " cannot be due to the odour given by the leaves, but probably 



