EUCALYPTUS DIVERSICOLOR. 



P. T. M., fragments phytographise Australia iii. 131 (1863) ; Bentham, flora Australiensis iii. 251 ; F. v. M., Report 



on the Forest-resources of Western Australia, p. 6, t. 4. 



The " Karri." 



Finally extremely tall ; leaves scattered, broad- or elongated-lanceolar, not very inequilateral, 

 slightly curved, evidently paler beneath; veins very numerous, subtle, pennatcly spreading, the 

 circumferential vein somewhat removed from the edge ; oil-dots irregular and much concealed ; 

 umbels axillary and soon lateral, solitary, their stalks rather long and slender, slightly or not 

 angular, with 3 to 9 flowers ; calyces not shining, their tube gradually attenuated into a generally 

 shorter stalklet, somewhat longer or nearly twice as long as the almost hemispheric or semiovate 

 lid, not or slightly angular ; stamens all fertile, inflexed before expansion ; anthers almost heart- 

 shaped, bursting with longitudinal slits, enlarged by a conspicuous dorsal-terminal gland : style 

 shorter than the stamens ; stigma not dilated ; fruits truncate-ovate, 3- or rarely 4-celled ; rim 

 flat, but rather narrow ; valves enclosed, cohering before maturation into a pyramidal cone ; seeds 

 without appendage. 



Iii the moist hilly or mountainous country at and near the Frankland- and Walpole-Rivers, 

 the Shannon, Warren- and Dunolly-Kivers, more particularly towards the coast, extending about 

 thirty miles or less inland, reaching the country near the entrance of the Blackwood-River 

 (J. Forrest), constituting the Karri-forests, occurring sparingly also at the Porongerup and 

 Torbay (F. v. M.) and around Mount Manypeak (Maxwell). 



One of the grandest trees of the globe and one of the greatest wonders in the whole creation of 

 plants ! Astounding records of the height of this giant-tree have been given. Messrs. Muir saw 

 trees with stems about 300 feet long up to the first branch, and I myself noticed many trees, 

 which approached to 400 feet in their total height. When closely growing, the young trees may 

 have a comparatively slender trunk, so much so, that a tree 180 feet high may show a stem hardly 

 over a foot in diameter ; in such a case the foliage, for want of space, is also only scantily 

 developed, and the ramifications are but short in proportion to the tallness of the stems. In the 

 mast-like straightness of the trunk and the smooth whiteness of its bark this superb tree imitates 

 completely the variety regnans of E. amygdaliua of South-East Australia, with which also, and 

 perhaps solely, it enters into rivalry as the tallest tree of the globe! Even the loftiest trees may 

 not yet have been found out in the secluded humid forest-valleys, in which E. diversicolor like 

 E. amygdaliua rejoices most and luxuriates to the greatest extent. But possibly in the 200 miles 

 of uninterrupted length of Sequoia-forests, a few years ago rendered known to exist in Southern 

 California, Mammoth-trees of either Sequoia Wellingtonia or S. sempervirens may occur, which 

 possibly excel in stupendous height even the famous individual trees of the Calaveras-Grove. But 

 whatever species of tree in the championship of the world may gain the final victory for height, no 

 Eucalyptus can compare in the massiveness of its trunk with the Wellingtonia Sequoia, of which 

 one on the Tule-River showed a basal trunk-diameter of 35 feet, while at a height of 240 feet the 

 stem-diameter was still 12 feet with two succeeding limbs respectively 10 and 9 feet across. 

 Still on the authority of Captain Walcott also Karri-stems have been observed with a basal 

 diameter of 20 feet. Into this final competition for height may perhaps also enter some of the 

 true Pines of North-West America (Pinus Douglasii, P. Lambertiana, P. Menziesii, P. grandis) 

 and even the North-East American Pinus Strobus, though its most majestic specimen-trees were 

 long ago swept ruthlessly away from the face of the globe, a fate not unlikely to be shared by its 



