EUCALYPTUS DOEATOXYLON. 



F. V. Mueller, fragmenta phytographise Australia ii. 55 (1860) ; Bentham, flora Australiensis iii. 249 ; F. v. M., 

 select plants for industrial culture and naturalization p. 78; Indian Edition p. 111. 



Shrubby, finally arbgrescent ; leaves small, opposite, linear- or narrow- laneeolar, on very short 

 stalks, sligbtly or hardly curved, equally green on~both sides, not conspicuously dotted ; lateral 

 veins faint, rather close, moderately or much spreading, the circumferential vein evidently removed 

 from the margin of the leaf ; umbels bent downward, on recurved slender compressed stalks, solitary, 

 axillary or soon lateral, with 4 to 8 flowers ; stalklets thin, angular, usually about as long as the 

 tube of the flowering calyx, but shorter than the fruit ; lid smooth, below semiovate-hemispherical, 

 conspicuously terminated into a beak-like point, rather longer than the obverse-conical or hemi- 

 ellipsoid not angular tube ; stamens inflexed before expansion ; outer filaments without anthers ; 

 fertile filaments very short ; anthers very minute, nearly oval, opening by longitudinal slits : 

 width of the stigma hardly exceeding that of the style ; fruits small, broadly truncate-ovate or 

 verging towards a spherical form, slightly wrinkled, 3- rarely 4-celled ; their rim narrow ; valves 

 enclosed, but reaching nearly or fully to the rim, very short ; seeds extremely small, all without 

 appendage, the sterile seeds not very narrow. 



From Lucky Bay (E. Brown), Cape Arid and Russell's Range (Maxwell) to Stirling's Range 

 (F. V. M.) and Mount Lindsay extending to the most south-eastern sources of Swan-River (Muir), 

 mostly in rich soil along brooks, reaching the summits of mountains up to 3,000 feet elevation. 



A tree, with a smooth stem, which attains 3 feet in diameter (Th. Muir), and with a com- 

 parative small crown of foliage, not dissimilar in habit to E. salubris and E. salmonophloia 

 (concerning which two species may be referred to my " Report on the Forest-resources of Western 

 Australia," pages 13-14, pi. 14 and 15), friiiting sometimes already as a shrub of 6 feet ; growth 

 not of celerity, about 40 feet in 20 years. Bark greenish-white. Leaves not much shining, as in 

 very many congeners terminated by a curved narrow acumen ; occasionally some of the leaves 

 displaced and not paired ; reticular veinlets rather conspicuous and very close. Buds of the 

 umbels enclosed in two connate bracts. Umbels when in fruit usually less turned downwards 

 than when in flower. Valves inserted not distant from the orifice. 



The Aborigines of Western Australia wander for long distances to obtain saplings of 

 this species for their spears, on account of the straightness of the stem and the hardness and 

 elasticity of the wood ; hence the specific name and the vernacular " Spear wood-Eucalypt." 



E. Doratoxylon approaches in systematic affinity to E. decurva, as pointed out by Bentham, 

 who also justly observes, that both come near the Micrantherae, to which along with E. oleosa and 

 its allies they might be readily referred, though placed by that illustrious phytographer into the 

 series Normales (Parallelanther^). The differences between E. Doratoxylon and E. decurva 

 consist in the mostly scattered and also broader leaves of the latter, the longer leafstalks, the 

 larger umbels with longer stalklets, the depressed lids, the filaments more sharply refracted while 

 in bud, the longer anthers and somewhat larger fruits. 



This pretty tree was introduced into the Melbourne botanic garden very many years ago. 



Explanation of Anaittic Details. — 1, an unexpanded flower, the lid lifted ; 2, longitudinal section of an 

 unexpanded flower ; 3, some stamens in situ ; 4, 5 and 6, side-, front- and back-view of an anther, with portion of 

 filament ; 7, style and stigma ; 8 and 9, transverse and longitudinal section of a fruit ; 10 and 11, fertile and sterile 

 seeds ; all magnified, but in various degrees. 



