104 BOTANICAL NOTES. 



Eucalyptus acervula, Sicb.- — Unfortunately, in the course 

 of his well-intentioned efforts to elucidate the complex 

 mass of organisms included in the genus Eucalyptus, our 

 late Master, Baron von Mueller, was not always free from 

 adding to the confusion. This species I wish to allude to 

 was one of the unfortunates. Originally described by 

 Sieber, it was included by Hooker in his Flora, where E. 

 gunnii was also figured and described. E. acervula is a 

 vei'j common Tasmauian gutn, and though in some re- 

 spects nearly related to E. gunnii, is consistently distinct. 

 Its habit and bark, its thinner undulate leaves, and 

 numerous flowers, its peculiar turbinate fruit, with pro- 

 truding valves, make it very distinct, yet Mueller not only 

 combines it in his Eucalyptographia with E. gunnii, but 

 rejects the type established by Hooker of that species, and 

 replaces it with a plate of the typical E. acervula, Sieb. 

 In spite of my respect f^r his genius, I do not see how this 

 can be maintained. There is one other source of confu- 

 sion here. Mueller, in Bentham's "Flora Australiensis," 

 describes E acervula, Sieb., under the liarae E. stuartiana. 

 He describes and figures in his Eucalyptographia a form 

 closely allied to the many flowered forms of E. viminalis. 

 Lab., under this name taking exception to his own descrip- 

 tion in the Flora^ and all this in spite of the fact that the 

 name E. stuartiana had long previously been appropriated 

 for a form of E. gunnii, H., by Miguel. 



There is one interesting feature about E. acervula, Sieb , 

 worth recording — it develops an outer operculum to its 

 flowers, that is shed at an early stage. I believe E. glo- 

 bulus, Lab., is the only other speci^^s in which this member 

 has been observed. 



Eucalyptus vernicosa H. — This interesting eucalypt on 

 Mount La Perouse attains a height of 20ft. The leaves 

 are all opposite, and the flowers solitary in the axils. 

 These features I found constant for the whole country, 

 from the Hartz through Adamson to Perouse, a distance 

 of about 30 miles. 



On the West Coast the smaller forms retain the opposite 

 leaves, but the flowers are three together on short ped- 



