397 



Dacrydium Franklini, 



Hook. f. in Hook. Lond. Journal, IV, 152, t. 6; and Fl. Tasm. i, 351, t. 100. 



''HUON PINE." 



Habitat ; Tasmania. 

 I. HISTORICAL {vide supra). 



II. SYSTEMATIC. 



This tree is one of the best known in the Island, and yields one of Tasmania's 

 finest pine timbers. It attains a height sometimes of over loo feet. 



Leaves small, acute, and spreading on the young plant, in the mature plant 

 closely appressed, thick, keeled, spirally arranged. 



Male amentum small, terminal, cylindrical, with twelve to fifteen stamens. 

 Fruit cones very small, terminal, about same size as the leaves, scales about four 

 to eight in number. 



Seeds globular, about i line in diameter. 



III. LEAVES. 

 Chemistry of the Leaf Oil. 



Theoretical. 



The results from the investigation of the oil from the leaves of this tree, 

 and also of those from the oil of the timber are interesting. The principal con- 

 stituent occurring in the leaf oil is apparently a previously undetected terpene 

 of the formula CioHi^, and for which, if this supposition is correct, the name 

 Dacrydene is proposed. This terpene readily forms a nitrosochloride, melting 

 sharply, and with decomposition at 120-121° C. (corr), which is far away from 

 the melting point of any nitrosochloride formed with a previously known 

 terpene. The boiling point of Dacrydene appears to be 165-166° C. (coit.); the 

 specific gravity at 22° C. = 0-8524; the refractive index at 22° C. = 1-4749; ^.nd 

 the rotation So = + 12-3°, or a specific rotation [aJd + I4"48°. It is a colourless 

 mobile oil, with a turpentine-like odour, but slightly more aromatic and less 

 pungent than pinene. It is very volatile, and quickly and entirely evaporated 

 from a watch glass without leaving any residue whatever. 



