i6 3 



87. Eucalyptus goniocalyx. 



(F.v.M., in Fragm., vol. ii, 48, 1860.) 

 A Mountain Gum. 



Systematic.- A very tall tree with a smooth bark, except for a few 

 feet at the base, found mostly on basalt and granite ridges. Abnormal leaves 

 cordate, sessile, acuminate, 6 inches long and 2 inches broad, dark-coloured above, 

 lightish underneath; branchlets square. Normal leaves lanceolate, falcate' 

 sometimes as much as 2 feet long and 3 inches broad; venation fairly distinct ', 

 intramarginal vein removed from the edge. Peduncles axillary, few, under 

 i inch long, flattened. Buds angular, sessile or shortly pedicellate, 7 to's lines 

 long ; operculum shortly acuminate, obtuse. 



Fruit. Ovate-truncate, oblong or hemi- 

 spherical, pedicellate, only occa- 

 sionally sessile; rim countersunk; 

 valves inserted or, when hemi- 

 spherical, the valves are slightly 

 exserted ; about 6 lines long and 

 4 lines in diameter. 



The pyriform fruits closely resemble these 

 of E. obliqua and E. Delcgatensis and 

 somswhat E. regnans. The hemispherical 

 form is very much like those of Tristania 

 conferta, a non-Eucalypt. 



Habitat. Coast range from the Blue Mountains, New 

 South Wales, well into Victoria and South 

 Australia. 



REMARKS. -The specific name in this case is not a good one, in that it applies much better to quite 

 half-a-dozen other Eucalypts, and it is owing to this fact, that several good species have, in the past, been con- 

 founded with it. It is another instance where morphology fails in the classification of Eucalypts. " Mountain 

 Gunv' is one of the finest of our forest trees, but, unfortunately, is sometimes found in inaccessible gullies. The 

 timber is hard, close-grained, interlocked, pale-coloured, and very durable. The timber alone differentiates this 

 species from all others that have from time to time been confounded with it. Mueller's plate of this species in his 

 Kucalyptogvaphia appears to include species other than E. goniocalyx. 



ESSENTIAL OIL. Leaves and terminal branchlets for distillation were 

 obtained from Monga, N.S.W., in August, 1898. The yield of oil was 0-96 per 

 cent. The crude oil was lemon-yellow in colour, and had an odour resembling 

 those of the richer cineol-pinene Eucalyptus oils. The presence of volatile 

 aldehydes was pronounced. The oil of this species was rich in cineol. contained 

 dextro-rotatory pinene, but phellandrene was absent. Eudesmol was present in 

 the crystallised form, and the fourth fraction consisted largely of that con- 

 stituent, together with the sesquiterpene. On standing some time the crude 

 oil became turbid, eventually depositing a whitish powdery substance. Many 

 of the oils of this class of Eucalyptus form this deposit on keeping, although 

 quite clear when freshly distilled. (See the article dealing with this substance 

 in this work,) 



