EUCALYPTUS LEUCOXYLOK 



p. V. M., in the Transactions of the Victorian Institute i. 33 (1854) ; Miquel, in JSTederlandisk Kruitkundig 

 Ai'chiev iv. 126 (1859) ; P. v. M., fragmenta phytographise Australise ii. 60 (1860) ; Bentham, flora Australienais 

 iii. 210 (1866). 



The Victorian Ironbark-tree. Finally tall ; leaves scattered, narrow-lanceolar and somewhat 

 sickleshaped, rarely oblong-lanceolar, of equal either greyish- or dull-green on both sides, not 

 usually shining, on moderately long or rather short stalks, their veins neither very spreading nor 

 very numerous, the marginal vein distinctly removed from the edge ; pellucid oil-dots rather 

 copious ; flowers on each axillary or lateral stalk usiwdly three or sometimes 4-5, rarely 6-11, the 

 umbels occasionally slightly paniculate ; calyx on a slender stalklet, wrinkled by exsiccation, its 

 tube semiovate or broadly obverse-conical, about as long as the gradually short-pointed lid; outer 

 stamens destitute of anthers ; filaments pale-yellow, rarely pink, rather thick and somewhat 

 glandular ; anthers very minute, nearly as broad as long, upwards dilated, opening towards the 

 summit with short slits ; style comparatively long ; stigma dilated; fruit semiovate, 4— 7-celled, 

 not or very rarely angular ; rim strongly compressed or seldom slightly flat ; valves short, quite 

 enclosed ; fertile seeds finely net-veined, as well as the much narrower sterile seeds usually very 

 small and without any expanding membrane. 



Dispersed from South-Queensland through New South Wales to many parts of our colony and 

 thence westward to Spencer's Gulf. 



This is the Ironbark-tree of Victoria and many districts of New South Wales, but also the 

 White Gum-tree of South Australia, where already in 1847 I bestowed the specific name on this 

 Eucalypt in contradistinction to the Red Gum-tree, with which it is associated on the alluvial 

 plains around Adelaide. IVo forms of this species bear marked outward differences, arising from 

 geologic circumstances. The variety designated White Gum-tree, has the greater portion of the 

 stem pale and smooth through the outer layers of the bark seceding. The variety, known as our 

 Ironbark-tree and mostly occurring on stony ridges or mountains of the lower silurian sandstone- 

 and slate-formation, retains the whole bark on the stem, it thus becoming deeply fissured and 

 furrowed, very hard and dark-colored. 



The manuscript name E. Sideroxylon, given by Allan Cunningham to this species, is merely 

 incidentally and without description mentioned in Sir Thomas Mitchell's " Tropical Australia," 

 ' p. 339 (1848), and would imply, that the vernacular name of this tree was Ironwood, an appellation 

 nowhere in use. The flowers and fruits are sometimes considerably larger than those delineated 

 on the present illustration, but occasionally even smaller. The tree attains usually only a 

 moderate size, but occasionally advances to a height of 200 feet. I have however seen this 

 species flowering already in a shrubby state, even when the leaves were still opposite. 



Its nearest affinity is to Eucalyptus melliodora, of which some illustrations can be compared 

 in my works on the " Plants Indigenous to the Colony of Victoria," suppl. pi. xvii., and " Intro- 

 duction to Botanic Teachings at the Schools of Victoria," fig. vii. The flowers of E. melliodora are 

 however often somewhat paniculate and are as weU as the leaves and fruits evidently smaller, and 

 the lid is less pointed, while the bark never secedes so much as to leave the stem smooth and pale. 



The leaves of the young seedlings of E. Leucoxylon are cordate- or lanceolar-ovate, opposite, 

 sessile and smooth. 



It is one of the best among Eucalypts for a moist tropical clime. Here in our colony the 

 rugged-barked variety is often indicative of a gold-bearing country. Mr. A. W. Hewitt has 



