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tus trees. Then, suddenly, some of the eucalyptus " literature " 

 that floods the state comes that way, and the dazed traveler reads 

 that " there are now growing in California over sixty species of 

 Eucalyptus", and he is at once illuminated and satisfied until his 

 next walk abroad ; then the differences and likenesses become 

 amazingly confused, and he sees that no tree is like any other 

 tree, and yet every tree is like every other tree. Then, if he be 

 a philosophical traveler, his satisfaction becomes merged into re- 

 lief that lie doesn't have to demonstrate the existence of one 

 hundred and fifty possible species, and that, anyhow, he isn't 

 going to stay long enough in California for people who guess his 

 botanical taint to find out his weakness — at least if he tactfully 

 leads them to discuss the merits and value of the eucalyptus 

 and so away from the dangerous quicksand of eucalyptus tele- 

 ology, which is just what this article proposes to do. For it is 

 enough to have sixty or more species of any one family sud- 

 denly thrust upon the unsuspecting traveler, without having 

 among them, species in which the "leaf" is so varied that a 

 single tree may show leaves that are alternate or opposite, spread- 

 ing or declined, and broadly elliptical or narrow and un- 

 symmetrical. 



The eucalyptus tree commonly called the " gum " tree was 

 introduced into California for ornamental purposes in 1856. It 

 is a native of Australia and the adjacent islands, and belongs to 

 the family Myrtaceae, numbering over one hundred and fifty dis- 

 tinct species. The genus was first discovered by the French 

 botanist, L'Heritier, in 1788, and was named by him Eucalyptus, 

 meaning " well concealed," the name being prompted by the 

 closely-covered and well-concealed flower buds. Baron von 

 Mueller, a recognized authority on eucalyptus, suggested the 

 general term " eucalypts " which is now in common use. In 

 1870 Elwood Cooper, of Santa Barbara, commenced large plant- 

 ing operations to test many species. 



The Department of Agriculture (Bulletin No. 35 of the Bureau 

 of Forestry) issued an extensive series of photographic plates as 

 aids in identifying the species. Since then the state forester's 

 office has issued a very comprehensive bulletin covering the trees 



