319 



" Scaly to Sub-fibrous. — In tlie sub-fibrous class, or what is a sort of transition 

 from scaly to shortly-fibrous, we have amongst others E. populifolia and E. hemiphloia, 

 of what are known as the Box-tree group, the bark of which is usually of a grey colour. 

 The fibre is very short, the bark not particularly thick and usually covers most of the 

 trunk and often the branches as well. The Box timljers are very hard, and like the 

 Ironbarks, this class of Eucalypt absolutely shuns the colder situations, neither group 

 having a representative in Tasmania. The Box-tree section is most common in the 

 Interior and next to that, on the Western Slopes, occurring also in the Coastal Area, 

 but absent from the mountains above an altitude of 3,000 feet in latitudes south of 

 32 degrees. 



" Fibrous Barks. — The commonest forms of fibrous-barked trees are kno^vn as 

 Stringybarks, of which E. eugenioides and E. obliqua may be mentioned as t^'pes. Most 

 of these Stringybarks occur in the Coastal Area, and next in the Mountain Region, 

 while there is only one species, E. macrorrhyncha, on the Western Slopes, and, except 

 for an occasional tree of the last-mentioned species, the fibrous-barked Eucalypt is 

 unknown in the Interior. This distribution is of great interest, and appears to be in 

 response to climatic conditions. A second form of fibrous bark, which is less stringy 

 than the typical Stringybarks, and usually of a grey colour, is known as Peppermint- 

 bark, from the fact that the species on which it grows possesses leaves which emit a 

 strong odour of peppermint when crushed. The Peppermint group, of which E. dives, 

 Andrewsi, amygdalina (radiata), and jnperita are typical, belongs chiefly to the Mountain 

 Region, and occurs also in the Coastal Area, but is absent from both the Western Slopes 

 and the Interior, in fact, to an observer descending the western side of the mountains, 

 the presence of the Peppermints is evidence that cool conditions have not yet been left 

 behind, while the occurrence of the Box-trees denotes that the country below the margin 

 of the winter snow has been reached, and that fairly warm and comparatively dry 

 conditions prevail. Three of the typical Peppermints, viz., E. dives, amygdalina and 

 Andrewsi, rarely, if ever, descend below an altitude of 2,000 feet in latitudes north of 

 35 degrees, so that it seems probable that prior to the great iiplift in the Kosciusko 

 period, these species, in their present state of development did not exist in New South 

 Wales except perhaps in the extreme south, and this latter possibility could apparently 

 only apply to the first two. 



''Furrowed Barks. — The hard furrowed-barked trees of which the Ironbarks 

 E. crebra and E. sideroxylon may be regarded as types, are most numerous in the Coastal 

 Area, and next to that, on the Western Slopes, being practically unknown in the 

 Mountain Region above an altitude of 3,000 feet. It seems cimous that the one 

 condition these hard-timbered, thick-barked Eucalypts avoid more than any other, 

 is the cold. One species with equally rough furrowed bark on the trunk, but ■mith 

 softer fissile timber, viz., E. Sieberiana, wlfich belongs to the Mountain Ash group 

 flourishes from the sea level up to an elevation of about 3,500 feet on the ocean side 

 of the mountains, but is almost unknown west of the Main Divide. E. Smithii is another 

 species with furrowed bark on the lower part of the bole, and is found east of the Main 

 Divide below an altitude of 3,000 feet." 

 E 



