EUCALYPTUS GOMPHOCEPHALA. 



De Candolle, prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis iii. 220 (1828) ; m^moire sur la famille des myrtac^es, 

 planche 11 ; E. v. M., fragmenta phytographise Auatralise ii. 36 ; Bentham, flora Australiensis iii. 231 ; F. v. M., 

 Forest-resources of Western Australia 9, plate 8. 



Tall ; leaves scattered, lanceolar-sickleshaped, on rather long stalks, shining, but slightly 

 paler beneath, their veins very thin, rather close, only moderately spreading, the circumferential 

 vein very close to the edge ; oil-dots concealed or obliterated ; umbel-stalks broad, much com- 

 pressed, axillary, solitary, bearing from 2 to 6 flowers ; stalklets none or exceedingly short ; lid 

 hemispherical, thick, rough, somewhat streaked, considerably broader than the tube of the calyx and 

 only slightly shorter ; the latter broadly obverse- or semiovate-conical at first, widening after- 

 wards ; outer stamens almost straight in bud, inner stamens more or less inflexed before expansion, 

 all fertile ; anthers oblong, opening lengthwise by parallel slits ; style somewhat shorter than the 

 stamens ; stigma not dilated ; fruits topshaped- or bellshaped-semiovate, 4-celled, rim of the ripe 

 fruit exserted, broad, somewhat turgid; valves deltoid ; seeds without any appendage, the sterile 

 not much or hardly smaller than the fertile seeds and few of them narrow. 



In the coast-tract from the Moore-Eiver to Geographe-Bay in West Australia, seemingly 

 always in the limestone-formation. 



The " Touart " or " Tooart." 



A good-sized, rather shady tree, as noticed by myself near Bunbury, with finally stout stem, 

 the whole height of the tree reaching to 120 feet with a clear trunk sometimes up to 50 feet. Bark 

 persistent, rough and rather dark but not stringy on aged stems, greyish and smooth on younger 

 trees and branches. Branchlets somewhat robust. Leaves of rather thick consistence ; their veins 

 not prominent ; stomates about twice as many beneath as above. CaTyces"lieitEer smooth nor 

 shining ; lid hard, of remarkably thick structure. Filaments pale-colored ; dorsal gland of anthers 

 conspicuous. Fruit-valves depressed, finally pyramidally erect. 



E. gomphocephala is phytographically one of the most marked of all species of the extensive 

 genus, although habitually not altogether dissimilar to E. marginata ; the lid broadly protruding 

 beyond the calyx-tube separates the species already from all congeners, except E. Watsoniana and 

 E. robusta, but in neither of these two is the turgescence and disproportionate width of the lid 

 (which induced De Candolle to construct the specific name of the Tooart) equally remarkable, the 

 two last mentioned species being besides very different in other respects. The slight expansion 

 of the lid beyond the calyx-tube, as shown by E. corynocalyx and E. urnigera, can here not come 

 into consideration. E. gomphocephala might systematically be compared to E. megacarpa, if the 

 broadness and bluntness of the lid were kept out of view ; still the roughness of the bark, the 

 thicker consistence of the leaves, the heterogenous stomates, the stamens mostly straight in bud, 

 the narrow anthers, the fruits longer than broad with perhaps never more than four valves already 

 offer marks for easy distinction. 



I have given the geographic limitations of this species as recorded on the forest-map of West 

 Australia recently issued by the Survey-Department of Perth (Swan-Eiver) ; but Mr. Oldfield 

 noted in his collection a sprig as gathered north of the Arrowsmith-Eiver. Mr. A. C. Gregory, 

 C.M.G., the renowned geographic explorer, observed that this tree is restricted to a calcareous 

 sandstone formed by the wind-drifts of^sear^sand of later tertiary date ; the tree thus occurs only 

 in the vicinity of the ocean. 



