EUCALYPTUS MEGACAEPA. 



F. V. M., fragmenta phytographife Australise ii. 70 (1860) ; Bentham, flora Australiensis iii. 232 ; F. v. M., Eeport on 



the Forest-resources of Western Australia p. 14. 



Finally rather tall ; branchlets very angular ; leaves scattered, narrow-lanceolar, rarely 

 oval-lanceolar, slightly curved or almost sickleshaped, of equal color and somewhat shining on both 

 sides ; veins very fine, moderately spreading, the circumferential vein somewhat removed from the 

 edge of the leaf ; oil-pores irregular and rather angular ; powers axillary or lateral, solitary or 

 oftener two or three together, on a conspicuous broadly compressed stalk ; stalklets none ; tube of 

 the flowering calyx broadly obconical or topshaped, not much longer than the hemispheric short- 

 pointed lid, both slightly rough ; stamens all fertile, inflexed before expansion ; anthers oval- 

 oblong, opening with parallel slits ; stigma not dilated ; fruits large, the calycine portion hemi- 

 spheric, slightly streaked-angular or almost smooth, the summit turgid, less frequently flat, with 5 

 or sometimes 4 or Q thick emersed convergent valves ; rim broad ; placental axis wide ; seeds very 

 angular, the fertile of nearly the same size as the sterile seeds, all without appendage. 



Around Wilson's Inlet and on Mount Blphinstone (Maxwell), thence westward to Cape 

 Leeuwin (Gilbert), also on the granitic summit of Mount Burrabunup and on the crest and 

 declivities of the Stirling's Range (F. v. M.). 



A middle-sized or occasionally a small tree, discovered already by Robert Brown in 1802 

 during Flinders's expedition, about half a century afterwards refound by Drummond and later 

 also by Oldfield, taking in South-Western Australia the name of " Blue Gum-tree." Bark from 

 successive shedding of its thin outer layers smooth, greyish-white or according to Maxwell also 

 salmon-colored. Odor of foliage as well as of fruits pleasant, reminding of that of E. Stuartiana. 

 Leaves mostly not very elongated, rather dark-green ; the oil-pores in young leaves pellucid, 

 in older leaves much concealed. Flowers variable in size ; their stalk sharply two-edged and 

 upwards dilated. Filaments pale ; anthers dorsifixed, oscillating, with a large turgid dorsal 

 gland towards the summit. Fruite measuring not rarely nearly an inch in diameter, hence the 

 specific name. Of the precise value of the timber and any of its peculiarities we have hitherto no 

 record. I saw trees with stems 3 feet in diameter on the Gordon-River and in various places near 

 to that stream. 



This species bears in some respects alliance to E. globulus, but it is never of gigantic size, 

 seldom reaching 100 feet in height ; the leaves are smaller, of thinner consistence and of a different 

 and more agreeable scent, with more subtle veins ; those of young seedlings are stalked also and 

 simply opaque, but not like those of E. globulus powdery bluish-white from waxy exudations, nor 

 does this whiteness occur on the branchlets and calyces of the advanced tree ; the flowerstalk is 

 not reduced to extreme shortness or altogether absent, the calyces are neither angular-ridged nor 

 warty-rough, the main-lid is less depressed, the outer lid seems never obvious, the fruits are 

 channelled beneath the rim by a less conspicuous furrow and altogether more smooth though 

 similar in form, but the valves are longer, while the fertile and sterile seeds do not show the 

 inequality of those of E. globulus and are also more angular and shining. 



The differences between B. megacarpa and E. Preissiana are still greater ; the last-mentioned 

 species is only of shrubby growth, the branchlets are stouter, the leaves are mostly opposite, often 

 approaching to an oval form, of very thick texture and paler hue, with thicker veins, the flowers 

 are not rarely provided with short stalklets, the lid separates from the tube of the calyx by a less 



