532 ESCALLONIA EUCALYPTUS 



tapered at the base to a stalk in. or less long ; upper surface dark shining 

 green, clammy with resin ; paler, but also resinous and glossy beneath. 

 Flowers white, in a panicle 5 or 6 ins. long, rather thinly disposed, pendulous 

 from the und'er-side of the main axis, each branch of the panicle one- to four- 

 flowered, and springing from the axil of a leaflike bract ; flower-stalk furnished 

 with stalked glands. Corolla to in. across, the claws of the petals forming 

 a slender tube nearly ^ in. long ; calyx green, bell-shaped, with awl-shaped 

 teeth. 



Native of Chile ; long known in cultivation, but much confused with illinita. 

 From that species, although unmistakably closely allied, it is very distinct as 

 seen in the living state. It is laxer in habit ; the panicles are longer, one-sided 

 (instead of cylindrical) ; and the leaves and young shoots are much more 

 sticky and resinous, especially in autumn, and much more scented. The most 

 impressive peculiarity of this shrub, indeed, is its odour, even more suggestive 

 of the pigsty than that of illinita, but intermingled with a resinous smell, and 

 by no means so unpleasant as that comparison might imply. So strongly 

 are the shoots imbued with it that herbarium specimens, years after drying, 

 still retain it. On living plants it is strongest on damp, still days. 



EUCALYPTUS. GUM-TREES. MYRTACE^:. 



The gum-trees are the most characteristic timber-trees of Australia 

 and Tasmania, where they are known also as "mahogany-trees," "iron- 

 barks," and by other common names. They are evergreen shrubs or 

 trees with peeling bark, some of the species attaining to perhaps greater 

 heights than any other trees in the world. Most of them are of remark- 

 ably quick growth when young. The leaves of young examples of many 

 species are curiously different from those of adults ; being in the juvenile 

 state opposite, heart-shaped, stalkless, very glaucous white, and standing 

 out horizontally ; in the adult or flowering state they hang down vertically, 

 become stalked, much longer, narrower and greener. The chief features 

 of the flower are the funnel-shaped to urn-shaped calyx-tube, and a 

 circular band of very numerous stamens borne on the calyx rim. The 

 calyx-tube becomes a hard, woody fruit, containing numerous minute 

 seeds. 



An extensive collection of eucalypts, thirty to forty species, is grown 

 at Menabilly, in Cornwall, planted there by the late Mr Jonathan Rashleigh. 

 At Kew only one is really hardy E. Gunnii. In the following notes I 

 have described what I believe to be the three next hardiest, although 

 subsequent knowledge may show that other species are capable of with- 

 standing equal or greater cold. The eucalypts like a deep, moist loam, 

 and are raised from seed. Growing at a great rate when young, they 

 should be planted out when quite small. If they can be given a 

 temporary covering during severe frost for two or three winters, it enables 

 them to form a woody base, and better able to withstand subsequent cold. 



The Eucalypti are permeated more or less by a resinous gum, which 

 has a pleasant and very characteristic odour. 



E. COCCIFERA, Hooker fil. 



A tree 70 ft. or more high in this country, young shoots warted. Leaves in 

 juvenile trees opposite, blue-white, stalkless, to \\ ins. long, roundish or 



