36 WATTLES AND WATTLE-BARKS. 



My readers will observe from the drawing how variable in size and contour 

 are the leaves (phyllodia) of the mountain hickory. It is, in fact, a very 

 variable species, but it may be usually known (though the test is not an 

 infallible one) by means of the thickened dot or gland which is found a little 

 distance along the rim (or marginal vein) of the leaf, and from which another 

 vein extends, in a curved manner, to the leaf-stalk. A small leaf-shaped 

 enclosure, varying in size, is thus partitioned off out of the area of the leaf 

 itself. 



A specimen, too, from near Moruya has very narrow leaves, varying in 

 breadth from a quarter to half an inch, and from 8 inches to 12 inches in 

 length. Another, from Mount Dromedary, has its leaves 8 inches long and 2 

 inches broad. The average size, however, may be given as 5 inches long, and 

 1 inch broad. This will explain why different trees are known as narrow- 

 leaved and broad-leaved mountain hickory respectively. 



1 proceed to give a number of analyses of representative samples of this 

 bark from different places in New South Wales. I have already alluded to 

 one bark which gave 34 per cent, of tannic acid ; it also yielded 55 '2 per 

 cent, of extract, and came from Brown's Camp, near Delegate. I have not 

 come across a finer sample of this bark, though there is much of equal quality. 

 The mature trees which yielded this excellent result must have each con- 

 tained half a ton of bark. They grew on a mountain side, sloping west, on 

 poor soil, and associated with the native cherry (Exocarpm cuprcssiformis), 

 also of extraordinary large dimensions. 



Bark from Mount Dromedary, in the same district, stripped in December, 

 gave 32*25 per cent, of tannic acid, and 53*15 of extract. A sample grown 

 at Mount Victoria (Blue Mountains), stripped in June, gave 29*03 per cent, 

 of tannic acid and 57'25 percent, of ^extract. Height of the tree, 40 feet ; 

 diameter of stem, G inches. Bark from Rylstone (Mudgee line), stripped 

 in December from young (immature) trees, yielded 25*25 per cent, of tannic 

 acid, and 42*45 per cent, of extract. All the above are from the " broad- 

 leaved" variety. 



The following are "narrow-leaved." Bark from JSTelligen, stripped in 

 December gave 32*25 per cent, of tannic acid, and 52*8 per cent, of extract; 

 while a specimen from the Dromedary, much further south, gave an. almost 

 identical result viz., 32 per cent, of tannic acid, and 527 per cent, of 

 extract. 



The following analysis was given by the Queensland Commissioners, 

 Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886: Tannic acid, 14*49 per cent. ; extract, 

 33*06 per cent. I have received a Queensland sample from Dr. T. L. Bancroft, 



