EUCALYPTUS ROSTRATA. 



Schleclitendal, Linnsea xx. 655 (1847) ; F. r. M., in the Joursal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society iii. 83 ; 

 Bentham, flora Australiensis iii. 240 ; P. v. M., forest-resources of Western Australia p. 9 (1879) ; E. 

 acuminata. Hooker, in Mitchell's Journal of an Expedition into Tropical Australia 390 (1848) ; E. brachypoda, 

 Turczaninow, in Bulletin de la Societe Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou 1849 iii. 21, not of Bentham. 



Finally tall ; branclilets slender ; leaves scattered, lanceolar-sickleshaped, of equal color on 

 both sides ; lateral veins rather subtle, crowded, isinnate-spreading ; the circumferential vein 

 somewhat removed from the edge ; oil-dots scanty or obscured ; umbels axillary or lateral, 

 solitary, on slender stalks, usually with from 4 to 14 flowers ; stalklets thin, variously shorter 

 than the calyx or sometimes nearly as long ; lid longer than the semiglobular tube of the calyx, 

 from, an almost hemispheric base gradually or suddenly sharp-pointed or rarely almost blunt ; 

 stamens all fertile ; anthers nearly ovate, bursting with longitudinal slits ; stigma not dilated ; 

 fruit roundish in outline from the hemispheric calyx-tube, the broad pirotruding convex rim and the 

 3 or oftener 4, rarely 5 high-exserted deltoid valves, not large ; seeds small, all without any 

 appendage, the sterile seeds very narrow. 



Along river-banks or in alluvial valleys throughout nearly the whole Australian continent, 

 Imt absent from some of the coast-country, from the extreme of South- West Australia and 

 altogether from Tasmania, nowhere ascending high mountain altitudes, nor occurring away from 

 moist oases in any desert-regions, reaching the coast-borders in Victoria, Sou.th-Australia and also 

 at least occasionally in South-Queensland, traced by me likewise to litoral tracts on the lower 

 Victoria-Eiver in Arnhem's Land and in West Australia south to the Miirchison-River. 



This species, our famous " Eed Gum-tree," is perhaps the most important of the whole genus ; 

 although surpassed in celerity of growth by E. globulus, it is of higher value for the extraordinary 

 durability of its timber, having in this respect perhaps a rival only in E. marginata of South- 

 West Australia, but excelling that celebrated tree in increased rapidity of growth and in the 

 greater ease, with which it can be reared even in grounds with stagnant humidity. It never 

 liecomes so tall as the surpassingly gigantic states of E. amygdalina, E. diversicolor or E. obliqua ; 

 but often attains a height of over 100 feet, and is said to have reached under particularly favorable 

 circumstances even more than double that height, 250 feet according to Mr. Falck. The stem is 

 proportionately stout, yielding a great bulk of timber, a diameter of 14 feet being on record. 

 The bark is smooth, ashey-grey or whitish, or occasionally in part slightly brownish, from early 

 decortication of its darker outer layers, unless it should remain persistently rough on the base of 

 the stem, or should in trees growing exceptionally on dry ridges be more persistent aud less 

 smooth. Tlie tree will live even in jiermanent shallow swamps. 



As this tree on account of its incomparably valuable timber will be made the subject of many 

 cultural efforts and experimental tests here and abroad, many additional observations concerning 

 this species will likely be instituted for many years to come, which can in time also be collected 

 in supplementary pages for these Eucalyptus decades. Even in California, where tlie indigenous 

 forests supply the most magnificent timber-pines of the globe, it is found for more advantageous 

 to rear Eucalyjitus-wood for fuel and for many other purposes, for whicli it is aditptcd, than to grow 

 fir-wood. E. rostrata carries with it the recommendation of being one of the best of its congeners 

 to resist wet tropical heat. Tlius in Mauritius it grew 50 feet in sixteen years. The vernacular 

 name of "Red Gum-tree" is derived from the dark reddisli-brown color of the wood, the specific 

 appellation from tlic beak-like pointed lid of the calyx. Tlie natives of the lower Murrumbidgee 

 call it " I5iall." The leaves verge exceptionally into an oblong- or oval-lanceolar form ; they are 



