EUCALYPTUS PHCENICEA. 



F. T. M., in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society iii. 91 (1859) ; Bentham, flora Australiensis iii. 251. 



Not very tall ; branchlets slender ; leaves scattered, often on rather short stalks, narrow- or 

 sickleshaped-lanceolar, of thin consistence, opaque ; lateral veins moderately spreading, only 

 slightly prominent, the intramarginal vein almost contiguous to the edge ; oil-dots scanty or 

 concealed ; umbels many-lowered, axillary and lateral, on a conspicuous almost cylindrical stalk, 

 solitary or sometimes two together ; calyces longer than the slender stalklets, their tube obverse- 

 conical, at first slightly constricted towards the middle and at last below the orifice, faintly 

 furrowed and streaked, about twice as long as the semiovate or nearly hemispheric lid ; stamens 

 all fertile, inflexed before expansion ; filaments scarlet or light orange-colored ; anthers roundish- 

 or blunt-oval, opening with longitudinal slits ; ovary 2-celled ; fruit urnshaped-ellipsoid, rather 

 long, hardly woody, not prominently angular ; valves deeply enclosed. 



On the sandstone-tableland and also on sandy ridges from the Victoria-River and its vicinity 

 to Carpentaria, far eastward around the Gulf, often accompanied by E. miniata. 



A small or middle-sized tree, highly deserving of a place in ornamental arboreta here and in 

 any other countries free of frost. Flowers in the umbels counted to 28. Style hooked in the 

 flowerbud. Ripe seeds not yet seen, but probably not provided with any appendage. 



In ornamental splendor this tree among its congeners vies with E. ficifolia (F. M. fragm. 

 phytogr. Austr. ii. 85 ; vi. 25) and with E. miniata (A. Cunningham, in Walper's repertorium 

 botanices systematicfe ii. 925). Its flowers share the fiery brilliancy of the last-mentioned species, 

 to which it is also closely allied in its cortical characters, E. phoenicea and E. miniata standing 

 in this respect quite apart from any other Eucalypt (unless E. melissiodora), constituting in the 

 cortical system of the genus a peculiar section, that of Lepidophloiaj. The bark of both is very 

 lameller and friable, outside of a yellowish- or greyish-brown, on fracture partly glittering, and 

 somewhat resembling mica-schist. In E. phcenicea the bark covers the lower branches as well as 

 the stem persistently, but it is easily pulled off, and is less interwoven with fibres than in 

 E. miuiata, whereas also in the latter the bark persists on the stem only. Bentham's particular 

 systematic arrangement of the genus necessitated the removal of both species far from each other ; 

 the main-differences consist in E. miniata having an almost chalky whiteness about its branchlets 

 and inflorescence, thicker and somewhat broader leaves, heterogenous not isogenous stomata, a 

 lesser number of flowers in the umbels, no well developed stalklets to the calyces, an angularity 

 and greater width of the tube of the latter, more deeply orange-colored filaments, larger and 

 woody fruits (more like those of E. ptychocarpa) with a thicker rim, longitudinal angles and 3-4 

 valves ; it is moreover usually a larger tree than E. phcenicea. The latter differs from all its very 

 numerous congeners in the 2-celled ovary, as first observed by Mr. Bentham and subsequently 

 confirmed by numerous observations of my own. 



Species-name from the cinnabar-color or granateflower-red (foiWccoc) of the filaments, in 

 allusion to the fiery-crimson plumage of the mythical bird Phoenix. 



EXPLANATION or ANALYTIC DETAILS. 1, longitudinal section of unexpanded flower ; 2 and 3, front- and 

 back-view of a stamen ; 4, style with stigma : 5 and 6, transverse and longitudinal section of fruit ; 7, piece of a 

 leaf; all but variously magnified. 



In E. phoenicea, as in the preponderance of species of this genus, the stomata occur in about 

 equal number on both pages of the leaves, varying (so far as hitherto ascertained) from 65,000 to 



