97. Eucalyptus oleosa. 



(F.v.M.. in NYder. Kniid. Arch., iv, 127.) 

 Red or Water Mallee.* 



Systematic. A small tree or shrub, under 20 fee^, Bark rough and 

 persistent (F.v.M.), branches smooth. Leaves scattered, narrow-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, varying in length from 4 to 6 inches, coriaceous ; venation indistinct, 

 or obscured, oblique veins fine, numerous, intramarginal vein slightly removed 

 from the edge. Oil glands very numerous, but hidden, owing to the thick 

 cuticle. Peduncles axillary or lateral, each with about six to eleven pedicellate 

 flowers on slender stalklets, slightly longer than the calyx. Calyx turbinate, a 

 little over 2 lines long, and 2 lines in diameter ; operculum conical, acuminate, 

 rarely obtuse, usually exceeding the calyx tube, and sometimes much longer. 



Fruit. Globular, truncate ; rim thin, contracted at 

 the orifice ; valves acute, long and slender, 

 well exserted ; under 3 lines in diameter. 



The long slender exserted valves are a very marked 

 feature of the fruit of this species, and make the 

 herbarium material easy of determination. 



Habitat. Queensland; Victoria; South Australia; Western 

 Australia; south and western interior of New 

 South Wales. 



REMARKS. In the field it is generally associated with E. viridis, R.T.B., E. gracilis, F.v.M., E. dumosa, 

 A. Cunn., from which congeners it differs in fruits, nature of the bark, and timber. The bark of this tree is 

 remarkably thin for a Eucalypt. It occurs chiefly as a " Mallee " in extended patches, sometimes covering miles of 

 ground and is only occasionally found growing as a tree when it attains a height of more than 30 feet, and a 

 diameter up to 1 8 inches, The larger stems are generally hollow, and the timber pink, or reddish in colour, close- 

 grained, hard, and interlocked. 



ESSENTIAL OIL. Leaves and terminal branchlets for distillation were 

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

 i -i per cent. The crude oil was reddish-brown in colour, and had an odour 

 resembling those of the cineol-pinene class. It was rich in cineol, contained 

 pinene, but phellandrene was absent. Aromadendral was present, and it was to 

 this constituent that the laevo-rotation of the crude oil, and the higher boiling 

 fraction was due. After some time the crude oil deposited a powdery substance 

 in considerable quantity. The high-boiling portion contained some sesquiter- 

 pene, but the amount of esters was small. 



The crude oil had specific gravity at 15 C. == 0-925; rotation a D - - 1-5; 

 refractive index at 20 1-4689, and was soluble in i volumes 70 per cent, 

 alcohol. The saponification number for the esters and free acid was 4-9. 



* The term "Mallee" is applied in Australia to those Eucalypts which differ in their mode of growth 

 from other specie?, by sending out a number of small stems from an expanded root-stock, as shown in the 

 plate. 



50068 -N 



