EUCALYPTUS FOELSCHEANA. 



F. V. M. in tlie Melbourne Chemist and Druggist, November 18S2. 



Not tall or only of shrubby growth ; brancblets robust, not angular ; leaves scattered or 

 exceptionally opposite, on rather long stalks, ovate or verging into a roundish form, sometimes 

 very large, always of firm consistence, blunt or slightly pointed, greyish-green on both sides, not 

 much paler beneath; their primary veins very divergent or almost horizontally spreading, 

 numerous and thus closely approximated, rather subtle ; the circumferential vein almost contiguous 

 to the margin of the leaf; oil-dots concealed or obliterated; umbels 4-6-flowered or rarely 

 3-flowered, forming a terminal panicle ; calyces on longish or rarely short stalklets, faintly 

 angular, not shining, whUe unopened almost pear-shaped ; lid not so broad as the tube of the calyx, 

 very depressed or sometimes consjiicuously raised towards the centre, tearing of in an irregular 

 transverse line, long retained at the last point of adherence and from thence reflexed ; stamens 

 all fertile, bent inward before expansion; filaments yellowish-white; anthers almost cuneate- 

 ovate or the inner more oblong and the outer slightly cordate, bursting anteriorly by longitudinal 

 slits ; stigma not dilated ; fruit large, urnshaped, not angular ; valves generally four, nearly 

 deltoid, inserted much below the narrow edge of the fruit ; fertile seeds large, terminated by a 

 conspicuous membrane; sterile seeds very slender. 



In the vicinity of Port Darwin on sandy soil (Foelsche) ; near Bridge-Creek (Burkitt) ; also 

 in some other places of Northern Arnhem's Land (McKinlay). 



A shrub, sometimes flowering already at the height of hardly two feet, in that respect only 

 comparable to E. vernicosa, E. cordata and perhaps E. Preissiana ; the greatest height attained 

 about 20 feet. Stem diameter only to 12 inches as a maximum. Bark dark-grey, rough. Leaf- 

 stalks |-li iiich long. Leaves measuring often 4-5 inches in length and 2-4 inches in width, but 

 exceptionally in young plants extending to 9 inches in length and 6 inches in breadth. Oil-pores 

 angular, densely crowded, but very minute and readily visible only after the removal of the 

 cuticle. Flower-stalklets generally longer than the calyces ; tube of the calyx about three times 

 as long as the lid, at the time of flowering mostly -J inch long. Some of the outer filaments 

 dilated at the base. Anther-connective reddish, with a slight dorsal turgidity towards the summit. 

 Style much surpassed in length by the stamens. Fruits nearly an inch long, not angular ; valves 

 at last deeply enclosed. Sterile seeds 1^-2^ lines long. Nucleus of the fertile seeds about 

 ^ inch long. 



E. Foelscheana belongs to the series exemplified by E. terminalis. In some respects it is 

 allied to E. latifolia ; the leaves however are generally larger and not decurrent at the base ; their 

 stalks are proportionately shorter and as well as the branchlets less slender ; the flowerstalks and 

 stalklets are thicker and less angular; the calyces are of greater size, not roundish-blunt at the 

 base, and therefore do not pass suddenly into a stalklet of upwards unincreased thickness ; the 

 fruit is much larger, at least twice as long as broad and conspicuously contracted towards the 

 summit, therefore not almost semiovate or somewhat bellshaped ; as the flowers of E. latifolia 

 remained hitherto unknown, it is left to future researches to trace out any differences between 

 them and those of E. Foelscheana. A few adherent anthers of E. latifolia do however exhibit the 

 same form. These two species hold almost the same relation to each other as E. urnigera to 

 E. cordata. 



Some specimens without fruit, brought by Robert Brown already during Capt. Flinders' 

 Expedition from Carpentaria and presented to the Melbourne botanic Museum by Sir Joseph 



