BERBIMA AND MITTA6OXG. 105 



especially the last mentioned, are sometimes used as substitutes 

 for tea, arid there is every reason to believe that the one so 

 generally diffused in this colony possesses medicinal properties 

 not inferior to that dignified by the name V. officinalis. The species 

 (V. perfoUata) which grows at Berrima, and near Mudgee, as well 

 as in other parts of the interior, is a pretty little plant worthy 

 of cultivation. On the banks of the river, Micranthea liexandra 

 (Euphorliacece) is very abundant, and also the shrubs Pomaderris 

 liyustrina, Panax dendroides, Leptospermum obovatum, Pleurandra 

 stricta, Hibbertia diffusa, Frenela Australis (a native cypress), and 

 a stunted Casuarina, or forest oak. Of the difficult genus 

 Eucalyptus, or gum, I reckoned eighteen species, several of which 

 are perfectly distinct from any near Parramatta. I am well 

 aware of the difficulty in determining the species of this genus, 

 and until Mr. Bentharn and Dr. P. Mueller have carefully ex- 

 amined the specimens forwarded to them from all parts of Aus- 

 tralia, it may be as well to rely on the local names, rather than 

 on those which I may imagine they should have. When I find 

 writers of some eminence referring very different trees to the 

 same species, I cannot but see the inadequacy of the descriptions 

 hitherto relied on ; and I trust that Dr. Mueller's cortical system 

 may be useful in enabling the student to determine at once the 

 group to which any species belongs. This will be a great step 

 towards the elucidation of the difficulty ; for, although in some 

 species the bark varies considerably, yet the Doctor's system is 

 preferable to that of working out species by the comparative 

 length of the operculum, which has undoubtedly led to some con- 

 fusion. However, whether we place any reliance on the length 

 of the operculum, or whether we adopt the difference of the bark 

 as a convenient mark for distinction of species, it seems almost 

 useless in this genus to regard much either the shape or size of 

 the leaves. Beyond indicating the general form of the leaf in 

 any species, and noticing the ramification of the veins, we inust- 

 not attribute any importance to the exact outline or measure- 

 ment of the leaves, for sometimes on the very same tree they 

 may be found of various shapes and sizes. Hence I think it by 

 no means improbable that some of the earlier botanists, who des- 

 cribed at a distance, from dried specimens, may have considered 

 mere varieties as distinct species, or what is still more erroneous, 



