308 



DESCRIPTION. 



CXII. E. micranthera F.v.M. 



In Bcntlmm's Flora Anstraliemis iii, 213 (L86G). 



Only one indubitable specimen being Ivnown, and that only in bud and flower (see 

 Plate 88), I take the unusual course of recopying a Flora Atistraliensis description, 

 as I desire to give every facility to uiy readers to be on the lookout for additional 

 material. 



A shrub of G to 10 feet, with a smooth bark (Maxwell). Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate or 

 almost obtuse, 2 to nearly 4 inches long, very thick and smooth so as wholly to conceal tho veins. 

 J'edaiiclos very short, often flattened, with three to six flowers like those of E. uncinala or E. oleosa, 

 bat larjj'er. Cilyx-tubj turbinate, 2 to ns vrly 3 lines long, t.ipering into a very short thick pedicel or almost 

 sessile. Operculum very obtuse and shorter than the calyx-tube. Stamens inflected sometimes almost as 

 acutely so as in E. corynomlyx and E. uncinala, but the filaments not so fine and the anthers very minute, 

 with parallel contiguous cells. Ovary flat-topped. Fruit globose-truncate 4 to 5 lines diamtter, 

 somewhat contracted at the orifice, the rim broad, flat or slightly concave, the capsule very slightly sunk. 

 (B.Fl. iii, 218.) 



The remarkable and apparently unique anther may be described a? follows : — 

 Small anther, globular in shape, opening in lateral pores, gland on the top. 

 Filament broad and angular, slightly ribbed transversely, half as wide as the anther. 



RANGE. 



It is confined, so far as is known at present, to Western Australia. 13entham 

 quotes Sandy hummocks, from Israelite Bay to Eyres' Relief, Maxicell, these being 

 localities on the south coast towards South Australia. 



Pollowing is a copy of the label in Maxwell's handwriting " White sand 

 patch, 25 (miles sic) from the cliffs. Shrubs, bark smooth." 



There is a specimen of " a white Gum, sandy scrub land, Serpentine River, 

 W.A.," in the Melbourne Herbarium, which was referred to this species by Mueller 

 himself, but I think it differs from the south coast specimens. The Serpentine 

 River is a few miles south of Perth. 



