20 5 



veins oblique. Peduncles axillary, about 3 lines long, bearing umbels of five 

 to ten flowers. Buds clavate, tapering to a short pedicel ; operculum depressed, 

 hemispherical, often umbonate. 



Fruit. Pyriform, contracted at the orifice or some- 

 times hemispherical, shortly pedicellate, 

 more or less shining; rim red,' scarcely 

 domed, truncate, or slightly countersunk 

 when immature ; valves scarcely exserted ; 

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



The fruits might be described as a slightly larger form 

 of the true E. amygdalina, and next to these, E. dives. 



Habitat. Tasmania. 



REMARKS. One of the easiest of "Gum" trees to be identified in the field, for the specific name is a 

 very suitable one, the leaves being more linear than obtains in most species. 



Our giving the authorship of this species to A. Cunningham is challenged by J. H. Maiden (Roy. Soc. Tas., 

 1914, p. 26), but as we think that no new data have been brought to light, we retain it for A Cunningham ; vide our 

 Paper on " Tasmanian Eucalypts," Roy. Soc. Tas., 191?. 



ESSENTIAL OIL.- Material for distillation was obtained from The Springs, 

 Mt. Wellington, Tasmania, in January, 1912, at the time of ye;r when a 

 maximum amount of oil might be expected to occur. The yield of oil was 

 1-8 per cent. The crude oil was reddish in colour, and had a peppermint odour, 

 due to the piperitone present. It contained much phellandrene and a considerable 

 amount of cineol. Pinene was practically absent, or present only in traces. 

 The specific gravity of the crude oil at 15 C. =0-9096; rotation D - 10-2; 

 refractive index at 20 C. = 1-4677; and was soluble in 6 volumes 70 per cent, 

 alcohol. 



On rectification, only a few drops of acid water and volatile aldehydes 

 came over below 173 C. (corr.\ at which temperature the oil commenced to 

 distil. Between 173-188, 82 per cent, distilled; between 188-290, 10 per cent, 

 distilled, the greater portion (7 per cent.) above 260. These fractions gave the 

 following results : 



First fraction, sp. gr. at 15 C. = 0-8987; rotation - 12; refractive 



index at 20 = 1-4637. 



Second ,, ,, ,, = 0-9501; rotation a D + 3-2; refractive 



index at 20 = 1-4887. 



There was evidently a heavy, high-boiling constituent in the oil of this 

 species, which had a right rotation, but it was not isolated ; it was evidently the 

 non-crystallised form of eudesmol. The saponification number for the esters 

 and free acid in the crude oil was 5-8. 



The cineol was determined in the first fraction by the resorcinol method ; 

 when calculated for the crude oil the result was 52 per cent. By the phosphoric 

 acid method it was 46 per cent, in the crude oil. 



Material of this species was collected at Little Swanport, Tasmania, in 

 June, 1908. The oil distilled from this agreed in general characters and con- 

 stituents with the above. The yield of oil was 1-38 per cent. Specific gravity 

 at 15 C. = 0-9036; rotation a D 9-9; refractive index at 20 : 1-4705, and 

 was soluble in 7 volumes 70 per cent, alcohol. Below 193 C. 77 per cent, 

 distilled. The cineol was determined in this fraction by the resorcinol method; 

 when calculated tor the crude oil the result was 51 per cent. 



