July 1, 1897.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



163 



tree, of celerity in growth it ranks among the very foremost ; 

 regarded in reference to its timber, the tall variety can 

 fairly be classed with the superior kinds of its genus ; and 

 contemplated in respect to the yield of volatile oil from its 

 copious foliage, it is unsurpassed, and perhaps not equalled, 

 by any other tree in the world ! " In different districts it 

 bears the names " white gum," " swamp gum," " mountain 

 ash," " peppermint tree," and "messmate tree "; and the 

 aborigines of Gippsland call if'wangara" — literally, strong 

 bark. A number of different trustworthy and competent 

 observers have put on record the measurements of individual 

 trees ; the tallest being four hundred and seventy-one feet 

 high. But this was a standing tree, and there may have 



been some error 

 in the measure- 

 ment. A pros- 

 trate tree in the 

 Dandenong 

 Eange, Victoria, 

 was found to be 

 four hundred and 

 twenty feet long 

 and two hundred 

 and ninety - five 

 feet up to the 

 first branch, 

 where the trunk 

 was four feet in 

 diameter ; and 

 at three hundred 

 and sixty feet it 

 was still a yard 

 in diameter ! 



For purposes of comparison, a figure of the fruit of 

 E. cornuta is given. The beak-like prolongation consists of 

 the lignified styles, as they are termed, through which the 

 pollen grows to fertilize the ovules before they can grow 

 into seeds. This is the yate of Western Australia, and 

 only exceptionally attains a height of one hundred feet ; 

 but it thrives even in moist tropical climates, and has been 

 known to make as much as ten feet growth in one year. 



E. Lehmanni, from the same region, has a similar fruit. 

 It is one that I mentioned in a previous article as having 



a long cap or operculum to the 

 flower, sometimes used as a 

 cigarette-holder. This species 

 first flowered at Kew in 1875, 

 and is figured in the Botanical 

 Maga:ine, plate G140. The 

 cap is a brilliant red, and the 

 stamens bright yellow, so that 

 the tree is a very striking object 

 when in flower. 



E. ptychocarpa and E. calo- 

 plujUa represent another type 

 of fruit. The former is a native 

 of tropical Australia, in the 

 north-west, including Melville, 

 and is still imperfectly known. 

 E. calojihijlla is a native of 

 the extreme south-western 

 Fig. 5,-A single Soed-vessel ^^tre^ity of the country, and 



of Eucalypiiis 



Fig. 4 — Cluster of Seed-vessels of Eucahiptus 

 Lehmanni. Natural size. Original drawing. 



ffychocarpa. 



is remarkable for its handsome 



Natural size. Original drawing, foliage. It is called red gum, 



and although occasionally 

 reaching a height of one hundred and fifty feet, it is 

 never a very tall tree. It is, however, associated with 

 the karri {E. ditrrsicolor) and the jarrah {E. marijinata), 

 trees of enormous magnitude — the karri especially being 



a very tall grower. Mueller mentions having seen many 

 trees approaching four hundred feet in height, and one 

 that was three hundred feet up to the first branch. The 

 jarrah is now extensively used for street paving in London 

 and elsewhere. 



Eucalyptus pyriformls has a totally different type of 

 fruit. It is closely allied to E. macrocarpa, the flower of 

 which was described and figured in a former article, and 



it is also a native of 

 Western Australia. Both 

 are shrubs, flowering 

 when only three or four 

 feet high ; and both are 

 comparatively rare — the 

 latter, indeed, very rare— 

 and likely soon to become 

 extinct. It is a note- 

 worthy fact that the very 

 large flowered and large 

 fruited species of Euca- 

 lyptus are shrubs, whereas 

 the largest of the gum 

 trees, E.amyydalina,ha,s 

 almost the smallest 

 flowers and fruit of the 

 genus. 



Another and still more 

 remarkable fruit is that 

 of Eucalyptus tetrapiera. The specific name has reference 

 to the four wings or sharp angles of the fruit, and this 

 character often appears in vigorous shoots, which are 

 square and prominently quadrangular. The leaves — in 

 shape something like those of the common laurel, but at 

 least three times as thick — are even more extraordinary, 

 being so rigid, woody, and stiff" as to remind one of 

 conventionalized leaves in ironwork. On young, vigorous 

 shoots they are sometimes as much as a foot in length. 

 This, again, is a shrubby species, rarely exceeding ten feet 

 in height, and it is also a native of Western Australia — 

 where, indeed, there is the greatest concentration of those 



Fio. 6. — A single Seed-vessel of 

 Euc 'lyptus calophyUa. Natural size. 

 Original drawing. 



Fig. 7. — A Seed-vessel of Eucalyptus pyriformls. Natural size. 

 Original drawing. 



singular vegetable forms peculiar to that wonderful 

 country. It grows chiefly on granitic hills, and Mueller 

 classes it among the most ornamental of the genus. 



The foregoing disjointed account of the peculiarities of 

 the gum trees might be almost indefinitely expanded, but 



