EUCALYPTUS GOMPHOCEPHALA. 



The wood of the Tooart is of a pale-yeUowish color, remarkable for hardness and strength, 

 very heavy, of a close and twisted or even curled grain, rendering it very difiS.cult to cleave it, and 

 (what in Eucalyptus-timber must particularly be regarded as a valuable quality) showing no 

 aptness to rend. Mr. Laslett, timber-inspector to the British Admiralty, speaks in terms of the 

 highest praise of this wood. According to his authority it is a very sound timber, possessing few 

 or no defects ; it shrinks very little in seasoning, will bear exposure to all the vicissitudes of 

 weather for a long time without being affected by it ; after being exposed for fully ten years it 

 was found to open out with all the freshness of newly-felled timber. It is sought for in shipbuilding 

 for beams, keelsons, sternposts, engine-bearers, and for other works below the line of floatation, 

 wherever great strength is required and a weighty material is not objectionable. Laslett thinks 

 that it would also make good piles for piers and supports in bridges, and likely be useful in 

 the framing of dock-gates. Its toughness befits this wood specially for wheelwrights' work. 

 Experiments on its strength gave the following results : Average of six tests for transverse strain 

 S = 2,701, compared with 2,117 for British Oak; direct cohesion (tensile strength) per square inch 

 10,284 lbs. against 7,571 for Oak ; vertical or crushing strength per square inch 4-174 tons 

 agamst 2"194 tons for Oak. The specific gravity of Tooarf^wood was found to be in average 1,169 

 (Laslett, Timber and Timber-trees pp. 188-189). Logs 45 feet long and 28 inches square have 

 been obtained. 



Wherever in mild climes limestone-country near the sea-shore is to be clothed with forest- 

 vegetation, the Tooart would claim indeed high consideration among hardwood-trees ; it was first 

 brought under culture in the Melbourne Botanic Garden now many years ago. 



The tree is in flower from January tUl June. 



Explanation ov Analytic Dbtails. — 1, unexpanded flower, the lid lifted ; 2, longitudinal section of the 

 same ; 3, some stamens in situ ; 4 and 5, front- and back -view of an anther with portion of its filament ; 

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

 11, portion of a leaf ; all magnified, but variously. 



