Myrtaceae. 



257 



Eucalyptus. 

 (Family Myrtaceae). 



Tender aromatic trees, often of 

 large size: evergreen. Twigs at 

 first slender and 4 angled or rib- 

 bed, becoming terete and stout: 

 pith small, more or less angular 

 and flattened, spongy. Buds 

 naked, very small and insignifi- 

 cant, or the lateral like the end- 

 bud elongated as filiform often 

 deciduous branches. Leaf - scars 

 alternate or on young wood op- 

 posite, even then sometimes 2- 

 ranked by torsion of the twig, half- 

 round, little raised: bundle-trace 

 1, large and round: stipule-scars 

 lacking. Leaves simple, entire, 

 pellucid-punctate, those of mature 

 branches often sickle-shaped and 

 standing vertically. 



*& ^ -"" Eucalyptus shares with the coni- 



ferous genus Sequoia the distinc- 

 tion of producing the tallest trees known. Like many Austra- 

 lian trees, it is given to producing leaves which hang with 

 their edges vertical so that their surfaces are not exposed to 

 the full glare of the sun. E. globulus, which produces an ex- 

 cellent timber, is one of the most rapid growing of trees, 

 and its trunk, even when of large size, is willowy and yielding 

 under the force of a gale. 

 Outer bark loosely shredding: slender twigs, warty. 



(Blue gum). E. globulus. 



