EUCALYPTUS BUPRESTIUM. 



F. v. M., fragments phytographiso Australia; iii. 67 (1862) ; Bentham, flora Australiensis iii. 205. 



Shrubby or somewhat arborescent ; leaves small, scattered, on rather short stalks, narrow- or 

 sickleshaped-lanceolar, of equal color and slightly or hardly shining on both sides ; their lateral 

 veins rather thin, moderately spreading, not of very close approach, the circumferential vein 

 slightly removed from the edge ; oil-dots much concealed or obliterated ; umbels axillary or 

 lateral and solitary or a few crowded on short lateral branchlets, their stalks slender, bearing 4-10 

 or rarely only 3 flowers ; calyces small, almost pears/taped, not angular, longer than their thin 

 stalklets ; tube of the calyx nearly twice as long as the hemispheric lid ; stamens all fertile, 

 inflexed before expansion ; anthers cordate-kidneyshaped, the outer ones opening by divergent 

 short slits, the inner ones by more roundish large pores ; stigma not broader than the style ; 

 fruits large, nearly globular, pale-greyish, on very short or hardly any stalklets, 3- to 4- rarely 

 5-celled, not angular, the orifice of from twice to four times less width than the breadth of the 

 middle portion of the fruit ; rim prominently edged ; valves quite enclosed, deltoid ; fertile seeds 

 very angular, not much differing in size from the rather large and broad sterile seeds, but edged 

 by a rather conspicuous membrane. 



In Western Australia on sandy plains and ridges near Kojoneerup, also near the Palinup- 

 and Salt-Rivers (Maxwell) ; on shrubby undulations north of Stirling's Range and thence 

 extending, though not continuously, to the sand-scrubs near the Arrowsmith-River (F. v. M.). 



A shrub, noticed to attain generally only a height of about 10 feet, but occasionally advancing 

 to the size of a small tree, as seen by me towards the sources of the Greenough- and Invin- Rivers. 

 Branchlets mostly somewhat angular. Leaves seldom over 3 inches long, often shorter, some of them 

 occasionally only 1 inch in length, somewhat rigid. Umbel-stalks slightly angular, ^ to inch 

 long ; lower portion of the filaments not flexuous in bud. Anthers centrally dorsifixed, oscillating, 

 the outer ones slightly larger and comparatively rather broader, very pale everywhere except their 

 minute terminal brownish gland. Style shorter than the stamens. Fruit sometimes attaining 

 fully to 1 inch dimension, but producing ripe seeds also at half that size. Orifice variable in 

 width, but always of much less diameter than that of the middle portion of the fruit ; the rim in 

 some instances abruptly descending, rendering the edge very narrow, in other cases the rim 

 remaining more horizontal, thus forming a broadish margin around the orifice. Seeds in generally 

 two rows closely packed in each cell, shining, very few fertile, and these from a convex summit 

 angularly attenuated to the basal hilum. 



A remarkable feature in this species is the size of the fruit, very large in proportion to that 

 of the flowers, the disproportion in this instance being greater than in any other congener hitherto 

 known. 



In Bentham's system this species takes its place among the comparatively small series of 

 those of the Renantherte ; this alone renders its recognition quite easy, as that series comprises 

 only one other West-Australian species, namely E. marginata, and seemingly also only one other 

 constantly shrubby or scarcely arborescent species, viz. E. stricta. 



Eucalyptus-vegetation generally is favorable to the production of honey, and to this rule 

 E. buprestium offers no exception ; indeed the sweet nectar-fluid of the flowers of this Eucalypt 

 seems particularly rich, so much so, that some of the beautiful Buprestis-beetles are particularly 

 attracted by it ; hence the specific name. Perhaps the only utilitarian value, which this species 



