EUCALYPTUS OBLIQUA. 



Societj', that it was from the "warmer parts of New Holland" having- misled long afterwards, and 

 hindered tlie recognition of this species till recent times. 



E. cneorifolia, as drawn by Heyland for De Candolle's memoire sur la famille des Myrtacees 

 pi. 9, differs from E. obliqua only in shrubby habit, very narrow leaves with thinner veins and 

 fruit-valves sometimes less enclosed ; it is evidently dwarfed by cold in the high elevations of its 

 growth at about 4,000 feet in the Blue Mountains. But in De Candolle's prodromus iii. 220 and 

 in Bentham's flora Australiensis iii. 217 this high-land species is confused with one of low arid 

 country in Kangaroo-Island, which belongs to E. oleosa. What precise relation E. striata (Sieber, 

 in Sprengel curas posteriores 195) and E. obtusiflora bear to E. cneorifolia, which as here defined 

 belongs certainly to the Eenantheraj, remains to be ascertained. 



E. obliqua can be distinguished readily enough from E. piperita by its thicker and usually 

 larger leaves with more prominent and less divergent veins, the under-page of the leaves neither 

 evidently paler nor less shining than the upper side (hence the stomata are in almost equal 

 number on either side of the leaves), in less crowded umbels, in calyces less smooth, with shorter 

 and blunter lid, the greater elongation of the calyx-tube into the stalklet and also the rather 

 larger fruit with comparatively less constricted orifice. Tlie two are the only species among 

 closely allied kinds, which have the summit of the fruit very considerably contracted, hence no 

 difficulty can arise for recognizing E. obliqua. The veins of the leaves are occasionally so much 

 longitudinal as to bring E. obliqua thus far into close approach to E. pauciflora, which species is 

 allied also in many other respects, but has a smooth whitish bark, the outer stamens not all 

 fertile, the fruit hardly contracted at the summit, the rim not so narrow and the valves nearer to 

 the orifice ; the wood of the two is also different. The calyx however is likewise somewhat rough 

 in E. pauciflora. — E. Sieberiana in comparison to E. obliqua can be easily recognized by its more 

 rugged and solid bark, which partially secedes, by its less fissile wood, the less prominent veins of 

 its leaves, generally broader and more compressed flowerstalks, outer stamens sterile, fruit less 

 contracted at the orifice with flatter rim and with valves near the summit. 



E. obliqua is one of the most important of all our trees in regard of its vast abundance (being 

 the most gregarious of any of our forest-trees) and on account of the ease with which the wood is 

 worked. It supplies a large portion of the ordinary sawn hardwood-timber for rough building 

 purposes ; being very fissile it is also extensively split into fence-rails, palings and shingles ; it is 

 however subject to early decay when used underground. It is light colored. The specific gravity 

 of the wood varies from 0-809 to 0-990, or from 50 to 60i lbs. per cubic foot. Mr. F. Campbell 

 found the tensile strength per square inch equal to a pressure of 8,200 to 8,500 lbs. 



The bark of E. obliqua is extensively used for roofing primitive rural buildings ; it is also 

 suitable, as first shown by the writer, for the manufacture of paper, not only for packing but also 

 for printing and even writing, further for mill- and paste-boards. The pulp bleaches rapidly. 

 The bark contains only from 2-50 to 4-19 per cent, of Kino-tannin, in which respect it contrasts 

 unfavorably with that of E. macrorrhyncha, which provides from 11-12 to 13-41 Kino-tannic acid. 

 The best Kino of E. obliqua dissolves completely in boiling water, yielding a neutral deep-reddish 

 solution, which remains clear and is free of Gum, as long ago shown by Dr. Wiesner. 



Explanation of Analytic Details.' — 1, upper portion of unexpanded flower, the lid lifted ; "2, longitudinal 

 section of an unexpanded flower ; 3 and 4, front- and back-view of an anther with filament ; 5, style and stigma ; 

 6 and 7, transverse and longitudinal section of a fruit ; 8 and 9, sterile and fertile seeds ; 10, embryo; 11, the same 

 partly uncoiled ; 12, portion of a leaf ; all figures more or less magnified. 



