564 XXVIII. MYRTACEAE 



for the diverse climates and types of soil met with in India, for experience 

 has shown that it is most unsafe to predict the behaviour of a newly tried 

 species in India, even though its requirements are well understood in its 

 natural home. Generally speaking, most if not all eucalypts grow best on deep 

 fresh soil with a fair amount of subsoil moisture ; many, however, accommodate 

 tliemselves to poor dry soils, swampy ground, exposed situations, high altitudes, 

 or other conditions unfavourable to their best development, and here they 

 often assume a stunted or misshapen form or display special characteristics 

 amounting to sub-specific variation, for example in the form of the bark, the 

 shape and size of the leaves, or the amount of essential oil contained in them. 



The following are some examples of species whose requirements are 

 tolerably well known : 



Suitable for wet ground : E. rostrata (probably the best for swampy 

 ground), E. rohusta, and to some extent E. hotryoides, E. Globulus, and E. Ureti- 

 cornis. 



Suitable for dry, poor soil : E. corynocalyx, E. resinijera, E. siderophloia, 

 E. Sieheriana. 



Exacting as to soil : E. Globuhis, E. pilularis. 



Not exacting as to soil (i. e. will tolerate dry as well as unduly moist 

 soils) : E. amygdalina, E. cormita, E. resinifera, E. robusta, E. rudis, E. Sidero- 

 xylon, E. viminalis. 



Suitable for saline soils : E. rudis. 



Frost-resistant : E.coriacea, E. Ounnii, E. resinifera, E. rostrata, E. sidero- 

 phloia, E. tereticornis, E. viminalis. 



Frost-tender : E. calophylla, E. maculata var. citriodora. 



The following list of relative frost-hardiness of different species of Euca- 

 lyptus has been drawn up by Mr. E. N. Munns as a result of observations 

 during an exceptional period of low temperature in South California : ^ 



Very resistant to low temperatures : E. viminalis, E. polyanthema, 

 E. Gunnii, E. regnans, E. crebra. 



Resistant to low temperatures : E. tereticornis, E. rostrata, E. Globulus, 

 E. coriacea, E. resinifera, E. corynocalyx, E. robusta^, E. goniocalyx. 



Frost-sensitive, but capable of recovering from injury : E. Sideroxylo7i, 

 E. Stuartiana, E. citriodora, E. longifolia, E. amygdalina, E. saligna. 



Very frost-sensitive : E. rudis, E. corymbosa, E. Leucoxylo7i, E. cornuta, 

 E. diversicolor , E. calophylla. 



Drought-resistant : E. corynocalyx, E. resinifera. 



Drought-tender : E. Globidus, E. maculata var. citriodora, E. obliquxi, 

 E. saligna. 



Natural reproduction. So far as India is concerned, the question of 

 natural reproduction from seed is at present of no consequence. To a limited 

 extent natural seedlings have been springing up in and around the blue gum 

 plantations of the Nilgiris for some years past, and the essential conditions 

 appear to be bare soil free of weeds and sufficient light. In Australia it is 

 generally recognized that natural reproduction can be secured without much 

 difficulty by cutting the undergrowth, passing fire over the area, and there- 

 after strictly protecting from fire and in the first few years from grazing ; 

 these methods usually result in a good crop of natural seedlings, from seed 



* Journal of Forestry, xvi (April 1918), p. 412. 



