EUCALYPTUS TETRAGONA. 



F. V. M., fragmenta phytographise AustralisB iv. 51 (1864) ; Bentham, flora Australiensis, iii. 259 ; E. pleurocarpa, 

 Schauer, in Lehmann plantse Preissianse i. 132 ; Eudesmia tetragona, E. Brown, in Plinders's voyage to terra 

 Australia ii. 599, t. 3 ; Sweet, flora Australasioa t. 21. 



Shrubby or somewhat arborescen t ; branchlets stout, prominently quadrangular, tinged by a 

 chalky-white bloom ; leaves opposite, rarely some scattered, of thick consistence, from ovate- 

 lanceolar to ovate or rarely orbicular, nearly equilateral, on flat and rather long stalks, of equal 

 color on both sides ; their lateral veins numerous, pennately spreading, rather prominent, the 

 drcu mferential vein removed^ from th e_edge ; the oil-dots much concealed ; flowerstalks axillary, 

 .aolita:^ compressed, sharply biangular, with 3 or seldom 4 or 5 or 1 or 2 flowers ; stalklets 

 compressed, as long as the calyx or often shorter ; tube of the calyx truncate-ovate, faintly 

 4-toothed, considerably longer than the depressed hemispheric lid ; stamens forming four distinct 

 bundles, inflexed before expansion ; anthers minute, oval-globular, opening with longitudinal 

 slits ; style short ; stigma not dilated ; fruits rather large, truncate-ovate or sometimes verging 

 towards a globular form, angular from 2 or oftener 4 longitudinal lines, 4- or rarely 5-celled ; rim 

 descending, not flat ; valves enclosed near the orifice, very short ; fertile seeds surrounded by a 

 narrow tender membrane, very angular, much larger than the sterile seeds. 



From Cape Arid (Maxwell) to Lucky Bay (R. Brown), Cape Riche (Preiss), South-West 

 Bay (Oldfield), the vicinity of Stirling's Range (F. v. M.) and thence northward at least as far as 

 the remotest sources of Swan-River (Th. Muir). 



A tall s hrub, rising fina lly to a tree of 25 fee t, though fruiting already when only a few feet 

 high, apt to be kept dwarfed by being consumed down to the root by the periodical bushfires, 

 which are originated by the nomadic inhabitants of the native grounds of this species, the whole 

 plant being very combustible from the pervading oil of the foliage. This bush reminds of the 

 young state of E. globulus, with its op posite l eaves and the sharply quadrangular branchlets, 

 white (as well as the inflorescence) from its waxy-powdery exudation. 



The differences between E. tetragona and E. eudesmioides, whether indicative of the value of 

 species or only varieties, consist in the much narrower leaves of E. eudesmioides, the absence of 

 the waxy-powdery whiteness, less or not compressed flowerstalks, smaller flowers and fruits, 

 prevailing ternary number of fruit-valves. E. eudesmioides has been traced by the writer in 1877 

 from the Arrowsmith-Eiver to near Shark-Bay over sand- and limestone-ground. A large-fruited 

 form of this plant from Esperance-Bay, referred to E. tetragona in the flora Australiensis, seems 

 to mediate the transit from one to the other ; it is without whitish bloom and may exhibit the 

 aged state of the species. E. tetragona is through E. eudesmioides also cognate to E. odontocarpa, 

 of which well-developed flowers remained as yet unknown ; the differences of the latter consist in 

 still narrower and somewTiat curved leaves with more spreading veins, in the smallness of its 

 flowers with proportionately more developed calyx-teeth, and the not membranously margined 

 seeds ; very possibly its anthers will bring it nearer to E. tetrodonta. 



Its mainly shrubby growth gives E. tetragona probably no claim to the practical attention of 

 any artisans ; but a plate has been devoted here to its elucidation, as this species is of particular 

 structural interest in regard to its flowers. It shares with E. erythrocorys the remarkable 

 characteristic of having its stamens united into bundles, which alternate with the teeth of the 

 calyx, though the fllaments do not actually unite, but are inserted on semiorbicular lobes, different 

 in color and consistence. On this distinction rests R. Brown's genus Eudesmia (Appendix to 



