Pe FE S EER E E 
ESCULENT PLANTS OF VAN DIEMEN’S LAND. 69 
Dianella cerulea, Blue Dianella, —and 
D. revoluta, Narrow-leaved ditto. Besides 
the recommendation of their blue flowers 
and berries, the flag-like foliage of these 
and another plant found on the sea-coast 
(probably a species of Anarthria), are 
used for making baskets by the Aborigines, 
who prepare the leaves by drawing them 
over a fire, by which they are softened and 
rendered more flexible: those of the A- 
narthria require also to be previously 
split. 
Eucalyptus globulus, Blue Gum-Tree of 
Hobart-Town:—E. robusta, the Stringy 
Bark :—E. resinifera, White Gum, or 
Kino Gum-Tree :— E. Piperita, Pepper- 
mint-Tree:—and E. myrtifolia, Myrtle- 
leaved Gum-Tree (from Port Davy). Be- 
sides these, there are the Mountain Blue 
Gum, the Weeping or Blue Gum of Nor- 
folk Plains, the Black-budded or Common 
Gum, and the Black Gum- Trees :—of the 
latter the bark and spreading branches, 
with their umbrageous foliage, bear much 
resemblance to the English Elm; the Zron 
Bark, growing mostly on the northern 
coast, and the Cider-Tree, from which a 
saccharine gum exudes, and which, with 
the Myrtle-leaved Gum- Tree, grows in the 
higher parts of the island, and on the tops 
of the mountains,—all of these belonging 
to the genus Eucalyptus. In the upper 
part of Mount Wellington there are three 
other kinds; while Æ. globulus is confined 
to the Southern and Eastern portions of 
the island. The wood of all the species 
is highly useful for domestic and other 
purposes; being so soft at first as to render 
the felling, splitting, and sawing up of the 
tree, when green, a very easy process, and 
when thoroughly dry, becoming as hard 
as Oak. They are all of remarkably quick 
growth, and many attain an enormous size. 
E. globulus and some of the other species 
have the singular property of casting off 
their grey or whitish bark in longitudinal 
Strips or ribbands, which, hanging down 
from the branches when shaken about by 
the breeze, have a remarkable appearance 
;, Botanical Magazine, tab. 505. 
Smith’s New Holland Plants, tab. 13. 
in the woods, until quite peeled off by the 
force of the winds. The leaves are alike 
on both sides, and present their edge to the 
body of the trunk or branch to which they 
belong: they also have the peculiarity of 
growing with the wood, being at first small 
and scarcely formed, with a reddish yellow 
tinge, giving to the groves of young trees, 
even in spring, the landscape tints of an 
English autumn. 
The genus is named from eu (well), and 
kalupto (to cover), from the circumstance 
of the blossom being covered with a lid, 
which, when the flower expands, falls off 
and discloses a four-celled capsule or seed- 
vessel, each filled with numerous small 
seeds. The common name of Gum-Tree 
was given to the genus, from the large 
quantities of strong astringent juice which 
the trees contained. In cutting down a 
Strifgy-Bark Tree, for instance, (E. ro- 
busta,) we often find large cavities, between 
the annual concentric circles of the trunk, 
filled with a most beautiful red or rich ver- 
milion-coloured liquid gum, which flows 
out as soon as the saw has afforded it an 
opening. The gum yielded by Æ. resini- 
fera is considered by druggists as not in 
the least inferior to the Kino which the 
Pterocarpus, or Red Saunders- Wood of 
India produces. 
Several of the species yield an exuda- 
tion that may be called a sort of manna, 
in the spring and summer months, which 
coagulates and drops from the leaves to the 
ground, in small, irregularly-shaped, snow- 
white particles, often as large as an almond. 
These are very sweet and pleasant to the 
taste, and are greedily devoured by the 
birds, ants, and other animals, and used to 
be carefully picked up and eaten by the 
Aborigines. 
On the whole, this noble genus may be 
said to have taken undisturbed possession — 
of these Australian regions, clothing, as it 
does, with a stupendous mantle, the surface — 
of both Van Diemen’s Land and New 
Holland, while the intermixture of other 
plants, which this lordly tribe occasionally 
permits, is, compared with its own great |. : 
extent, but small and partial! Wherever — — 
