196 



Comparing this with the normal or small-fruited form, Mr. Augustus Rudder, 



a forester of considerable experience, writes in the Agricultural Gazette :— 



This is one of two trees with the same vernacular (Grey Gum). In general appearance, to the casual 

 observer, the trees are much alike, but the leaves of this are rather broader, and its fruits and blossoms 

 are very much larger than those of the other variety : and the trees generally are not so large, and are more 

 limited in range of habitat, and, as a rule, do not approach so near to the coast, though I have seen it at 

 Raymond Terrace : and near the beach at Charlotte Bay, and Wallis Lake, in this district, the two trees 

 often grow together. I have mostly observed it on the lower ranges in the counties of Gloucester and 

 Durham. The timber is red in colour, is hard and very lasting, and is well suited in the round for heavy 

 timbers in bridges and culverts. 



Messrs. Baker and Smith (Research on the Eucalypts, p. 128) have evidently 



overlooked var. grandiflora and have renamed it var. major, stating : — 



This is a variety with larger fruits and flowers, and, as far as known, occurs only at Booral, New 

 South Wales (A. Rudder). 



The same gentlemen (op. cit., p. 127) describe a var. didyma :— 



This variety is distinguished from the type by its having two opercula to each bud, and by the 

 difference in its oil. The outer operculum is thin, and is shed very early in the budding stage, so that it 

 is scarcely ever to be found in herbarium material. The fruits always have a broad groove below the rim, 

 and the leaves are also larger and thicker than those of the type, while the wood is also more open in the 

 grain and less interlocked. Otherwise, morphologically, there is little to distinguish it from the type. 



A variety cannot be established on such slender morphological grounds. Many 

 species of Eucalyptus have two opercula to each flower-bud. In some it is more obvious 

 than in others, the rim between calyx-tube and operculum, showing the narrower diameter 

 of the latter, being quite obvious in some species, and giving rise to what, a number of 

 years ago, I described as the " egg-in-egg-cup " appearance. This diminished diameter 

 of the operculum, particularly in the young or half-grown state, is an indication of 

 where the outer operculum was, which, when thrown off, gives the operculum the 

 diminished diameter. In most (perhaps all) species the diameter of the operculum 

 continues to increase after the falling of the outer operculum, and, when the inner 

 operculum is ready to be thrown off the operculum is of the same diameter as the calyx 

 tube. 



SYNONYMS. 



1. E. tereticornis Sm., var. brachycorys Benth. 



2. E. Stuartiana F.v.M., var. longifolia Benth. 



1. E. tereticornis Sm., var. brachycorys Benth., in B.F1. iii, 242. 



Operculum more obtuse, 3 in l lines long. With the other specimens from Brisbane, Macleay, 

 and Hi tin- Rive) . from Parramatta and the Blue Mountains. E. punctata DC. founded on Sieber's 

 specimens No. 023, which I have not seen, appears from his diagnosis and from the figure Mem. Myrl. : 

 t. 4, to be the same variety with a short operculum, also described in a state of young bud. 



When E. tereticornis Sm. is reached it will be observed that the species is very 

 variable in length of the operculum, but E. punctata DC. is quite distinct. 



