EUCALYPTUS DIVERSICOLOK. 



F. V. M., fragmenta phytographiae Australise iii. 131 (1863) ; Bentham, flora Australienais iii. 251 ; P. v. M., Eeport 



on the Forest-resources of Western Australia, p. 6, t. 4. 



The " Karri." 



Finally extremely tall ; leaves scattered, broad- or elongated-lanceolar, not very inequilateral, 

 slightly curved, evidently paler beneath; veins very numerous, subtle, pennately spreading, the 

 circumferential vein somewhat removed from the edge ; oil-dots irregular and much concealed ; 

 umbels axillary and soon lateral, solitary, their stalks rather long and slender, slightly or not 

 angular, with 3 to 9 flowers ; calyces not shining, their tube gradually attenuated into a generally 

 shorter stalklet, somewhat longer or nearly twice as long as the almost hemispheric or semiovate 

 lid, not or slightly angular ; stamens all fertile, inflexed before expansion ; anthers almost heart- 

 shaped, bursting with longitudinal slits, enlarged by a conspicuous dorsal-terminal gland : style 

 shorter than the stamens ; stigma not dilated ; fruits truncate-ovate, 3- or rarely 4-celled ; rim 

 flat, but rather narrow ; valves enclosed, cohering before maturation into a pyramidal cone ; seeds 

 without appendage. 



In the moist hilly or mountainous country at and near the Frankland- and Walpole-Rivers, 

 the Shannon, Warren- and DunoUy-Eivers, more particularly towards the coast, extending about 

 thirty miles or less inland, reaching the country near the entrance of the Blackwood-River 

 (J. Forrest), constituting the Karri-forests, occurring sparingly also at the Porongerup and 

 Torbay (F. v. M.) and around Mount Manypeak (Maxwell). 



Otoej)£the_graiidest_trees_of the globe and one of the greatest wonders in the whole creation of 

 plants ! Astounding records of the height of this giant-tree have been given. Messrs. Muir saw 

 trees with stems about 300 feet long up to the first branch, and I myself noticed many trees, 

 which approached to 400 feet in their total height. When closely growing, the young trees may 

 have a comparatively slender trunk, so much so, that a tree 180 feet high may show a stem hardly 

 over a foot in diameter ; in such a case the foliage, for want of space, is also only scantily 

 developed, and the ramifications are but short in proportion to the tallness of the stems. In the 

 mast-like straightness of the trunk and the smooth whiteness of its bark this superb tree imitates 

 completely the variety regnans of E. amygdalina of South-East Australia, with which also, and 

 perhaps solely, it enters into rivalry as the^ talles^Jreej)/ the globej Even the loftiest trees may 

 not yet have been found out in the secluded humid forest-valleys, in which E. diversicolor like 

 E. amygdalina rejoices most and luxuriates to the greatest extent. But possibly in the 200 miles 

 of uninterrupted length of Sequoia-forests, a few years ago rendered known to exist in Southern 

 California, Mammoth-trees of either Sequoia Wellingtonia or S. sempervirens may occur, which 

 possibly excel in stupendous height even the famous individual trees of the Calaveras-Grove. But 

 whatever species of tree in the championship of the world may gain the final victory for height, no 

 Eucalyptus can con^ipare in the massiveness of its trunk with the Wellingtonia Sequoia, of which 

 one on the Tule-River showed a basal trunk-diameter of 35 feet, while at a height of 240 feet the 

 stem-diameter was still 12 feet with two succeeding limbs respectively 10 and 9 feet across. 

 Still on the authority of Captain Walcott also Karri-stems have been observed with a basal 

 diameter of 20 feet. Into this final competition for height may perhaps also enter some of the 

 true Pines of North- West America (Pinus Douglasii, P. Lambertiana, P. Menziesii, P. grandis) 

 and even the North-Bast American Pinus Strobus, though its most majestic specimen-trees were 

 long ago swept ruthlessly away from the face of the globe, a fate not unlikely to be shared by its 



