157 



RANGE. 



A few miles to the east and south of Normanton (Gulf of Carpentaria, Queens- 

 land), on a sandy cretaceous formation containing ironstone pebbles. Also occurs 

 on Normanton-Cloncurry road between Normanton and Flinders River (R. H. Cambage). 



Normanton (Ivie Murchie). 



The description was drawn up from Mr. Cambage' s No. 3,930, with the exception 



of that of the ripe bud and stamens, in which Mr. Murchie' s specimen has been used. 



The trees provisionally identified as Eucalyptus gracilis (No. 3,9301 are growing a few miles to the 

 east and south of Normanton on a sandy cretaceous formation containing ironstone pebbles. They are 

 small box trees from 10 to 30 feet high, often with branching stems suggestive of Mallee, leaves bright 

 green and shiny, yielding no smell of oil when crushed, box bark on trunk and large branches, some small 

 branches smooth and greenish, adult leaves from 3 to 4i inches long, about 1 cm. wide, juvenile leaves up to 

 3 inches long and IJ inches wide, fruits about 4 mm. long and 3 mm. in diameter. Leichhardt appears to 

 have passed through this identical forest after crossing the Norman River, the native name of which he 



gives as the " Yappar." He writes: — " The hills were composed of iron-sandstone The 



intervening flats bore either a box-tree with a short trunk branching oS immediately above the 

 ground," &c. (R. H. Cambage, in Journ. Roy. Sos. N.S.W., xlix, 422-3, 1915.) 



I have received the species from Berricannia, between Muttaburra and 

 Hughenden. Trees quite common about the homestead. (Mr. Svensson, through C. T. 

 White.) 



Dr. H. I. Jensen says that a medium sized gum answering to the description of 

 E. N ormantonensis is very common on desert sandstone country, associated with 

 Lancewood (Acacia Shirleyi ?) and Yellow Jacket {E. peltata). 



AFFINITY. 



With E. gracilis F.v.M. 

 It is closely allied to this species, but the leaves are of a different texture, and 

 there is a sticky exudation in patches, the result of insect punctures. The juvenile 

 leaves are broader and have a different venation to that of E. gracilis. There are no 

 conspicuous oil-dots on the buds, as in the case of E. gracilis. The fruits, although 

 very similar in shape to those of E. gracilis, are crowned by the persistent staminal 

 rings as in some of the Ironbarks and Boxes. 



J. E. Tenison- Woods {Proc. Linn. Sec. N.S.W., vii, 337) speaks of E. gracilis 

 in Queensland, but we now know that most of the specimens to which he refers belong 

 to E. Thozetiana F.v.M. Local observers might, however, inquire if those trees seen by 

 him " on the dry sandy scrubs on the Burdekin River, not far from Charters Towers," 

 refer to that or the present species. 



