96 



E. oleosa F.v.M. — It has all the characteristics of a Mallee, the stools are usually 

 possessed of 6-8 stems, all very much the same height, 12-30 feet, and about 3-4 inches 

 in diameter. In the district of Yalgogrin there are large areas of this species, most of 

 them less than 10 feet high, and consisting of this species exclusively. It coppices 

 freely alter being damaged, both at the roots and stem. It being a large plant as a rule, 

 it has to be rooted out by hand, which, while more laborious, is certainly efficacious — ■ 

 hence but few plants are noted growing in cleared land. 



E. radiata, a noted oil yielder of the southern tableland and south coast of New 

 South Wales, suckers freely. So also do E. dives, macrorrhyncha, piperita, melliodora, 

 polyanthemos, Stuartiana, elceopliora, to take a few species of the southern tableland. 

 But a proper investigation, as quantitative as possible, requires to be made. 



Physiological reserve material in a log (Moreton Bay Ash, Eucalyptus tesselaris) 

 is illustrated by a paper by the late Albert Norton in Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland, iii, 

 1886, p. 38. entitled " Notes on a living tree-stump." 



In June, 1919. Dr. J. B. Cleland exhibited before the Royal Society of New 

 South Wales a shoot several inches long, which had been taken from an excavated log 

 of E. trachyphloia, which had been in use for some years as a water-trough in the Pilliga 

 district. 



But these are mere notes, intended to stimulate an interest in the effects of 

 coppicing and of bush fires. 



Burrs. 

 Gnaurs and burrs, or knotty excrescences, are very familar to us on the stems of 

 Gum trees, where they frequently attain an enormous size, having a " nigger-head " 

 appearance. They result from dense clusters of adventitious buds arrested in their 

 growth. A photograph of a large burr on E. tessellaris will be shown in due course. 



9. TWIST IN BARK. 



Under the heading " Twist in Australian Timber," I have brought together 

 certain evidence in my " Forest Flora of New South Wales," Part XLI, p. 15, and have 

 a brief note in the same work, Part LVIII, p. 213. 



The twist is the resultant of forces represented by the effect of the sun on the one 

 hand, and the wind on the other. The matter is c/f economic importance, because, in 

 the vast majority of cases, non-twisted trunks, yielding straight-grained timber, are 

 desired by the timber merchant. 



I have, at this place, given the heading " Twisls in Bark " because the appearance 

 of the bark is readily seen, and affords a ready indication to the timber expert as to 

 whether the subjacent timber will be twisted or not. So that study of the bark receives 

 additional economic importance. 



In our Australian forests, as a rule, the greater bulk of the head of a tree is to 

 the north, i.e., it faces the sun, which rises in the east and longest influences the north. 

 I have known bushmen use this indication of the north when lost or in difficulties. 



