EUCALYPTUS UNCINATA. 



Turczaninow, in Bulletin de la Societe des Xaturalistes a Moscou 1849, ii. 23 ; Bentham, flora Australiensis iii. 216 ; 

 E. leptophylla, Miquel, in Nederlandisk Kruidkundig Archief iv. 123. 



Shrubby ; leaves scattered, on short stalks, usually narrow-lanceolar, copiously dark-dotted, of 

 equal green on both sides, never much elongated, their lateral veins exceedingly fine, rather close 

 and considerably spreading, nowhere prominent, the circumferential vein very close to the edge of 

 the leaf or almost contiguous with it ; umbels axillary and solitary or occasionally some arranged 

 into terminal racemous short panicles ; flowerstalks rather short, not or slightly compressed or 

 seldom sharply biangular, each with 3 to 9 flowers ; tube of the calyx almost semiovate, provided 

 with a very short or no stalklet, not or sometimes faintly angular ; lid quite semiovate or 

 occasionally upwards narrow-conically attenuated, from nearly twice as long as the calyx-tube to 

 hardly equalling the latter in length ; stamens all fertile ; filaments suddenly and sharply infracted 

 before expansion but not Jlexuous ; anthers very minute, almost globular, opening towards the 

 summit nith lateral pores ; style of bristly thinness ; stigma exceedingly minute ; fruits small, 

 semiovate, mostly 3- or less frequently 4-celled, the rim broadish and flat or internally descending, 

 the valves inserted not much beneath the orifice, quite enclosed or with their pointed summits 

 slightly exserted ; seeds minute without any appendage. 



In the sandy or calcareous desert-country from the Murray-River and its lower tributaries to 

 the west coast, there known to extend northward at least as far as the Murchison-Kiver. 



This species constitutes a considerable portion of the " Mallee-Scrub," chiefly along with 

 E. oleosa and E. gracilis. It always remains of shrubby growth, with several thin stems branched 

 from near the base. The bark is smooth and greyish or may assume a reddish tint, gradually 

 peeling off in fragments of layers, preventing it becoming rough and furrowed by age. Branches 

 erect, never drooping. Leaves of firm consistence, of very light green, somewhat shining, 

 occasionally broad-lanceolar, sometimes lanceolate-linear, generally terminated (as in many other 

 Eucalypts) by a short narrow hooked apex, from which the specific name in this instance is 

 derived. Their oil-dots not translucent or only exceptionally so. The leafstalks sometimes almost 

 absent. Bentham noted opposite leaves in young plants ; I find them in rare instances so even on 

 fruitbearing branches, and I have also from Lake Muir specimens, seemingly of E. uncinata, in 

 which the leaves become broader than long and perfectly connate into pairs, the leafy mass of each 

 pair surrounding undivided the branches (as in the upper leaves of the British honeysuckle). 

 Umbels in age lateral. Lid sometimes assuming a red hue. The filaments, though thin-capillary, 

 appear somewhat rigid through being not flexuous in bud, their straightness (except the single 

 infraction) giving to the mass of stamens when viewed as a whole an almost silky lustre. Anthers 

 with no glandular turgidity, occasionally somewhat truncated or approaching an obcordate form. 

 Style extended beyond the stamens in bud. The valves of the fruit may occur sometimes more 

 elongated and fine-pointed from the persistent basal remnants of the style. The sterile seeds are 

 partly narrow, but all very short ; the fertile seeds are almost oval and rather plan-convex. 



E. uncinata is easily recognized by its very fine filaments not being flexuous, but remaining 

 mostly bent inward about their middle at nearly right angles, even when already expanded ; in 

 this respect E. corynocalyx and E. decurva approach it, as mentioned by Bentham, but the former 

 differs in its finally tall stature, broader not dark-dotted leaves, longer stalklets of the flowers, 

 proportionately short lid, elongated anthers opening by slits, thicker style, longer also streaked 

 and at the orifice more contracted fruits with narrower rim and deeper enclosed valves ; indeed it 



