102 



ESSENTIAL OIL. Leaves and terminal branchlets for distillation of 

 this Victorian tree were received from Dr. A. W. Howitt, F.G.S., in May, 1898. 

 The yield of oil was 1-13 per cent. It scarcely differed in composition from the 

 oil obtained from E. Stuartiana, although the esters were more pronounced ; 

 it was a little less rich in cineol than the oil of that species. The specific gravity 

 of the crude oil = 0-934, this high specific gravity being due to an excess of high- 

 boiling constituents. The saponification number for the esters and free acid was 

 35-2. The oil was soluble in i^ volumes 70 per cent, alcohol. 



50, Eucalyptus bicolor. 



(A. Cunn., Hook., in Mitch. Trop. Austr. 390. Syn. E. pendula, A. Cunn., in Steud. Nom. Dot., 

 Ed. 2, E. largiflorens, F.v.M., in Trans. Viet. Inst., i, 34, and Fragm., ii, 58). 



Red Box. 



Systematic. A tree in favourable situations attaining a height of 100 feet, 

 and vernacularly known as " Goborro " in some parts of the State. Bark per- 

 sistent, ashy grey or blackish. Branches more or less drooping, sometimes as 

 much as those of the Weeping Willow. Leaves lanceolate, elliptical, shortly 

 acuminate, of a rather thick texture, silvery grey on both sides, petioles not long ; 

 veins few, not distinct, the intramarginal one well removed from the edge! 

 Flowers small, sometimes red, in axillary or terminal panicles, almost sessile ; 

 operculum hemispherical. 



Fruit. Somewhat pilular in shape, the orifice 

 contracted ; the rim narrow ; valves en- 

 closed ; mostly under 3 lines in diameter. 



Care is required not to mistake the fruits for those of 

 E. polybractea or E. Beyeri, but they are not so tapering 

 as in the latter. 



Habitat. From the Began to the Lachlan and Murrum- 

 bidgee, New South Wales; South Australia; 

 Victoria; Queensland; North Australia. 



REMARKS. This Eucalyptus has several vernacular names other than the above, but "Red Box" is 

 the most general one, as it expresses the colour of the timber, which is hard, interlocked, and very durable. The 

 venation of the leaf is very characteristic, and is constant throughout the range of the species, and this feature alone 

 at once differentiates it from E. intertexta, R.T.B., and E. WooIIsiana, R.T.B., which are generally found inter- 

 spersed with it. In the first edition of this work, these specific data were given under the name E. pendula, A. Cunn.. 

 but research has since shown that E. bicolor is the more correct name for the tree occurring in the districts travelled 

 by this botanist and explorer when he states " the marginal vein is not so close to the edge of the leaf." This 

 marked distance of the marginal vein from the edge of the leaf is quite its specific character amongst Eucalyptus 

 species. 



ESSENTIAL OIL. Leaves and terminal branchlets for distillation were 

 obtained from Nyngan, N.S.W., in November, 1899. The yield of oil was 0-85 

 per cent. The crude oil was light orange-brown in colour, and had a strong 

 odour of volatile aldehydes. In general characters it resembled the oils of the 

 cineol-pinene class of Eucalyptus oils; cineol was present in quantity, pinene 

 was the chief terpene, and phellandrene absent. This oil increased in cineol 

 content on keeping. 



