EUCALYPTUS GONIOCALYX. 



F. V. M., in Nederlandist Kruitkundig Archiev iv. 134 (1859) ; Fragmenta phytographise Australise ii. 48 ; 

 Bentham, flora AustraKensis iii. 229 ; E. elseophora, F. \. M. 1. c. it. 52. 



The Spotted Gum-tree of Victoria. Finally very tall ; leaves scattered, elongate- or siclde- 

 shaped-lanceolar, rarely verging into a more oval form, of equal color on both, sides, rather 

 opaque or not strongly shining ; oil-pores much concealed or transparent ; veins thin, moderately 

 spreading, the intramarginal vein somewhat removed from the edge ; flowerstalks broadly 

 compressed, axillary, solitary, exceptionally panicled, bearing 4—7 seldom fewer flowers ; calyces 

 nithout or on very short stalklets, conspicuously angular; Ud pyramidal- or conical-hemispheric, 

 about half as long as the obconical- or oval-cylindrical tube, or rarely the lid fully as long as the 

 tube or occasionally even three times shorter ; stamens all fertile, inflesed while unexpanded ; 

 anthers almost oval, upwards slightly dilated and at the summit truncated, opening with longi- 

 tudinal slits ; stigma not broader than the apex of the style ; fruits truncate- or semi-ovate, 3- or 

 less frequently ^-celled, lined by 2-4 more or. less prominent angles ; valves deltoid, inserted very 

 near the narrow margin of the orifice, enclosed or less often semi-exserted ; seeds without any 

 appendage, the sterile mostly narrower than the fertile seeds. 



In low or hiUy woodlands up to about 3,000 feet, intermixed with other Eucalypts, scattered 

 from the vicinity of Portland-Bay and from the Wimmera, Pyrenees, the Upper Avoca and 

 Loddon eastward, extending thus to the Gellibrand- Ovens- and Hume-Rivers, advancing south 

 to Cape Otway and Wilson's Promontory, through Gippsland to Twofold Bay and also into New 

 South Wales as far as Braidwood, in the latter locality noted by Mr. Wilkinson, and there in 

 granite-country. 



This tree attains in rich forest-valleys a height of 300 feet (Falck, Walter), with a stem- 

 diameter not altogether rarely up to 6 feet, exceptionally even of 10 feet (Boyle) ; but where it is 

 of much lower growth the stem (according to Mr. G. W. Eobinson) may branch out from 

 comparatively near the ground. As regards the nature of the bark it fluctuates between 

 Hemiphloife and Leiophloiee ; in the latter case the tree passes among the woodmen as Blue and 

 White Gum-tree, in the other case as Grey or Bastard Box. Local colonists have bestowed many 

 other perplexing vernacular names on this species of tree, and thus in East Gippsland it is the 

 Mountain-Ash. The bark where persistent on the stem is thick, but not fibrous. The above 

 quoted synonym pertains to the variety with more persistent bark. 



Tlie wood is hard and tough, usually free from kino-veins, varies from a pale-yellowish to a 

 brownish color, is exceedingly durable and also lasting long underground, not warping and on 

 account of the interwoven woody fibres almost as difficult to split as that of E. rostrata. It is 

 much esteemed by wheelwrights, particularly for spokes (Falck), in ship- and boat-building, for 

 railway-ties ; when not eligible for better purposes it is sought for good fuel. According to 

 Mr. Boyle the rougli-barked variety from low dry and stony ranges supplies a timber, which 

 wheelwrights consider equal to Ironbark, with the advantage of its not being so weighty ; the 

 taller mountain-variety with smoother bark is more used for planks, piles and general building 

 purposes, the timber also in this instance being more durable, than that from wet forest-valleys, 

 such as the Musk-tree gullies of Gijipsland, to which this species descends, also attaining there a 

 height of 300 feet on the testimony of Mr. Howitt. The average width of the vascular tubes is 

 0*12 mm. ; their walls are thin, and parenchyma^cells often approach them ; the woody fibres are 

 Bomewhat flattened, moderately thickened and up to 0-02 mm. Ijroad. The medullary rays are 



