Ill 



DESCRIPTION. 



CCXLVI. E. lira fa iW. W Fitzgerald) Maiden ii.sp. 



Arbor ca. 30 in. alta, caulis diametvo, 1 ad ]-5 m. ; cortice aspeva, cinerea sed inoUc et fere friable in 

 trunco ramis jiie pei-sistente. ligno brunneo; foliis ali juando oppositis, 8-10 cm. longis. petiolatis, florea, 

 uon vidi fructibus 3-5, b^e^^ter pedicellatis, ovoideo-oblongis, oiificio paullo contractis; niarginibua 

 tenuibus capsulis depressis. 



Arborescent : branchlets cyliudrical ; leaves opposite, subopposite. or alternate, lanceolate, straight 

 or falcate, acuminate, petiolate, dull-greyish on both pages, oil-dots crowded, veins inconspicuous, ascending, 

 the intramarginal one not far removed from the edge ; fruits 3-5 together, shortly pedicellate, on terete 

 lateral or axillarv solitary peduncles, ovoid-oblong, obscurely contracted between the summits, the riuis 

 thin; capsule sunk; valves 3, somewhat triangular, semi-exserted ; fertile seeds ovate, slightly compressed, 

 dark-brown, punctate, the sterile ones very much smaller, narrow, and angular. 



Height, 30-40 feet; trunk to 15 feet, diameter 1-1 J feet. Bark rough and greyish, but soft and 

 almost friable, resembling that of some forms of E. amygdalina Labill., persistent on trunk and limbs. 

 Timber brownish, fairly hard and rather free in the grain. Leaves 3-4 in. long, petioles J-i inch. 

 Peduncles 3-5 lines. Flowers not seen. Fruits about 5 lines (1 cm.) long. 



RANGE. 



It is only kno%Yn. at present, from the type locality in tlie Kimberleys, North 

 West AustraUa, where it was collected by Mr. Fitzgerald, viz., summit of Bold Bluff, 

 in sandy soil overling quartzite. 



(The eloselv allied E. simiUs is found in west Central Queensland. We want 

 further collections between the locaHties recorded for the two species, not only that we 

 may know more about them, but in order that this knowledge may enable us to say 

 whether we are justified in keeping them apart, or whether they are forms of the same 

 species. ) 



AFFINITY. 



With E. similis Maiden. 



The two species are so closely related that I regret that the material of E. Virata 

 is so scanty that it is impossible to make a final pronouncement. 



The colour and lustre (or absence of it) of the foliage of the two species resemble 

 each other (as indeed does that of E. eudesmioides). 



