2b5 



DESCRIPTION. 



XXIX. E. apiculafa. R. T. Baker and II. G. Smith. 



Described in " Research on the Eucalypts," p. 198 (1902). Referred to, by name, 



without botanical descri]3tion, in Proc. Boy. Soc. N.S.W., xxxv, 122 (1901). Following 



is the description: — ■ 



A shrub 6 to 8 feet high. 



Loaves narrow, lanceolate, with a pronounced recurved point, erect, thinly coriaceous, shining, 

 i inches to .5 inches long, petiole about 2 lines long. 



Veiiatioil quite hidden beneath the cuticle, which, when removed, shows the lateral veins to be 

 oblique and spreading, and identical in disposition with tho.?e of E. dives. Schau., and others of the 

 " Peppermint " group of Eucalypts. 



Peduncles axillary, about -5 lines long, terete or slightly flattened, with five to seven flowers in the 

 umbel. 



Calyx hemispherical. 



Operculum hemispherical, .shortly acuminate, -3 lines in diameter. 



Ovar.v flat-topped. 



Stamens all fertile ; anthers parallel, opening with longitudinal slits, connective projecting very 

 prominently above the anthers. 



Fruits might be described as hemispherical or pllular, but contracted at the rim, which is either 

 countersunk or fiat, 3 to t lines in diameter. 



Habitat.— Berrima (.J. J. Fletcher et R.T.B.); Mittagong (J. J. Hook), New South Wales. 



Remarks. — This tree, both in the field and in herbarium material, has so much the facies of E. stricta, 

 Sieb., that it was considered by us at first, and without any hesitation, as identical with that species. The 

 differences, however, in the constituents of their respective oils — differences such as could not be due to 

 soil or cHmate, as both Eucalypts occur on the Hawkesbury Sandstone formation, and at the same altitude 

 — caused us to make a further search for morphological characters, such as the oil constituents seemed 

 to indicate. The presence of the peppermint constituent in this species also led us to look for a venation 

 similar to that of E. dives, Schau., and others containing this particular property, and such was found 

 when the cuticle of the leaf was removed. By a similar treatment, the leaf of E. stricta was found to have 

 a venation corresponding to E. Bridqesiana, R.T.B., and others of the best eucalyptol-yielding eucalypts. 

 It is, therefore, upon the presence of these characters and oil constituents that the two species, E. stricta, 

 Sieb., and E. apiculata, are separated {op. cil. p. 198). 



The history of tliis species is, so far as I know it, as follows: — 



(1) On a label, in the collector's handwritiag, we have: — " 6 ft. densely 

 covered with white blossom ; many stemmed. High ridges above Berrima River, 

 December " (L. Atkinson). This is Miss Louisa Atkinson, the well-known authoress, 

 afterwards Mrs. Calvert. Mueller distributed Mrs. Calvert's specimens with the label 

 " Eucalyptus rigida, Sieber (E. stricta, Sieb., var. angustifolia)." This was in the 

 sixties. 



(2) Another specimen, bearing in Rev. Dr. Woolls' handwriting the label " E. 

 stricta, a scrubby species growing near Berrima, &c.," was endorsed by Mueller: 



