283 



Form S. This is a form with purple flowers, for which 

 I propose the name var. purpiuasct/is, var. nov. Its partial 

 synonymy is E. Behriaua, F. v. M., var. 'purpurasrens, F. v. 

 M. -p) E . purpurascens, F. v. M. ; E. hemiphloia, F. v. M., 

 var. purpurascens; E. Lansdowneana, Mueller and J. E. 

 Brown. ^8) The forms under the above names have puzzled 

 a good many people, because there is absolute transition be- 

 tween white- and pink- (sometimes deep pink) coloured flow- 

 ers. Following are fleld notes, and of some value for that 

 reason. 



"Red Mallee" seems to be commonest in the Port Lin- 

 coln district ; it is pink-flowering and very pretty. It is 

 usually a straggling, small tree of 10 ft. and more, with a 

 stem of 3 or 4 in. It is certainly not a variety of E . hemi- 

 phloia, as has been supposed, from herbarium material. 

 "Pink Mallee" — for so it is also called — is at Kirton Point 

 much like E. inrrassata, var. dumosa; it has a small oper- 

 culum, but this is never grooved, and it is more pointed and 

 less rounded than that of var. dumom. Pink Mallee is usu- 

 ally more compact in habit than the latter. The pale-pink 

 mallee occasionally attains the height of a tree, e.g., at Kir- 

 ton Point, where it is 1 ft. in diameter, and at other places 

 as much and more. It is common for a few miles along the 

 western road from Port Lincoln. 



I cannot see any morphological difference between 

 the Pink Mallee and the tree known as Pepper- 

 mint (odorata). The Peppermint, the Pink Mallee, 

 and the ''White" Pink Mallee (that is to say, Mallee that 

 cannot be distinguished from pink except by its white fila- 

 ments) are all in flower at the same stage. At 2 J miles on 

 the old road I cut some timber of pink-flowering mallee. It 

 is brown inside. I also cut a piece of white-flowering mallee. 

 I could detect no difference in the two timbers. If we turn 

 to B. FL, iii., 214, we have the description of E. hemiphloia, 

 var. purpurascens, from "Lake Wangaroo (Wilhelmi)." The 

 modern spelling of this is Wangary, and most of my speci- 

 mens were collected and my observations made along the Port 

 Lincoln-Lake Wangary Road. 



Then we have E. Lansdoivneana , F. v. M. and J. E. 

 Brown, figured and described as the "Red-flowering 

 Mallee." It was collected by Mr. Thomas Lans- 

 downe Browne on his "Pandura Run" in the Gawler 

 Ranges. "In the district where found the species is locally 



(7) These Trans, xxvi., 12 (1902). 



(8) Brown's "Forest Flora of South Australia," part ix., 

 t. 31 (1890). 



