91 



A form of E. alba has been described under the name of E. platyphytta, and 

 following is how they are contrasted in B.Fl. hi, 197 : — 



'" Leaves broad, with very diverging veins and distinctly reticulate. 



" Flowers nearly sessile or on short thick pedicels. Operculum heniisi 



su °rt E. platyphyUa. 



'" Flowers small, distinctly pedicellate, operculum conical ... • B. alba." 



The flowers are usually in 7's, so far as seen, though sometimes the scars are 

 difficult to observe. 



The character of the operculum is very variable, and conical and hemispherical 

 opercula are sometimes found on the same tree. The length of the pedicel is also 

 variable. 



The fruits vary both as to the shape, and as to the amount of exsertion of the 

 valves. 



The size of the various parts varies exceedingly. Less than half a juvenile leaf 

 is shown at fig. 6, Plate 106, and other instances of variation in the sizes of the leaves 

 are shown in Plates 105 to 107. 



Mr. Spencer Moore's E. pastoralis is shown at figs. 7-9, Plate 105. It seems to 

 me a coarse form of Mueller's E. platyphytta, which he himself suppressed and put under 

 E. alba. Figs 6a and 6b (Plate 105) are from a tree common at Port Darwin which 

 Mueller labelled E. platyphyUa, and fig. 7 from the same locahty, and which falls under 

 E. pastoralis, is not coarser than buds I have seen from Port Darwin trees always 

 looked upon as E. platyplujlla. E. pastoralis represents the largest flowered form of 

 E. platyphyUa (alba), and, in my view, it is too weak a species to stand. 



In Plates 105-107 I have figured a number of variations of E. alba, and it seems 

 to me that they form a continuous series. 



Eucalyptus platyphytta F.v.M. is called " Xankeen Gum,"' from the peculiar light brown colour of 

 its bark. It is the " "White Gum " of Queensland, where it has a different appearance to that in Northern 

 Australia. " Deciduous Gum.'"' The timber is poor. 



' ; One thing which strikes the observer is the enormous size of the leaves of a small scrubby Gum 

 which grows close to the ground. It is no uncommon thing to see sailings with leaves a foot long, and 

 half as broad. This is the young state of this species. It is the commonest Gum-tree of all tropical 

 Australia and will grow on the poorest soil, but the leaves of the adidt tree are not very large. " (Tenison- 

 WoodSj Explorations in Northern Australia.) 



Following is a note on E. alba taken by me while standing in front of the trees 

 at North Rockhampton, Queensland : — 



" Poplar Gum. A Cabbage Gum. Timber will not split. Excellent firewood. 

 An entirely smooth bark without flakes, a typical White, or Cabbage Gum. Though not 

 a very tall tree, it has a good trunk, although often scrambling. Branches brittle,, 

 common from Gladstone northward." 



