EUCALYPTUS WATSONIANA. 



F. V. M., fragmenta phytographise Australise x. 98 (1877). 



Tall ; leaves scattered, from ovate- to narrow-lanceolar, slightly or hardly curved, of equal 

 color on both sides, not shining ; their lateral veins very spreading, fine and copious, the circum- 

 ferential vein close to the edge of the leaf ; oil-dots concealed or obliterated ; umbels 2- to 

 4-flowered, in terminal panicles, not numerous ; flowers large ; lid depressed-hemispherical, very 

 thick, short-pointed, polished-smooth, broader than the bellshaped- or topshaped-semiovate tube of the 

 calyx, the latter slightly longer than its angular stalklet ; stamens all fertile, inflexed in bud ; 

 filaments yellowish ; anthers narrow-oblong, opening by longitudinal slits ; stigma not broader 

 than the style ; fruit large, bellshaped- or urnshaped-semiovate, not angular, rim very broad, 

 descending, separated by a conspicuous furrow from the edge of the calyx-tube ; valves 3-4, 

 quite enclosed, deltoid ; fertile seeds large, sterile seeds much smaller, all without any appendage. 



Near Wigton on a tributary of the Boyne-River in the Burnett-District ; Thomas Wentworth 

 Watson. 



A tree rising to a final height of 60 feet, so far as hitherto known. Bark persistent, wrinkled 

 and somewhat scaly, outside brownish. Leaves scattered, of firm consistence, on rather long 

 stalks, when well developed 4 to 5 inches long and 1 to 1| inches broad . Umbel-stalks about one 

 inch long. Tube of the calyx slightly warty ; lid always but sometimes very much depressed, the 

 central apex never long. Stamens exceeding the style in length. Fruit about an inch long or 

 slightly longer, the deflexed disc around the orifice protruding very evidently beyond the calyx- 

 tube ; summit of the capsular portion of the fruit before the expansion of the valves flat. Seeds 

 brown, shining ; the fertile seeds considerably compressed, 2 to 3 lines long, sharply angular. 



This seems a very rare species, as it is only as yet on record from the one locality, where the 

 late Mr. Watson discovered it, who at once very kindly sent dried sprigs and also notes on this 

 tree, as well as a colored sketch of a branchlet to the writer of this work. The finder saw the tree 

 accompanied by B. maculata and E. melanophloia, according to his notes. Locally it passes as a 

 " Bloodwood-tree " ; hence it is unquestionably a rich yielder of Kino, and thus its bark may come 

 into tanners' use. It may incidentally here be noted, that not only the bark but also the leaves of 

 Eucalyptus-trees contain a peculiar variety of tannin, difi'erent in its action on the salts of iron 

 and antimony, when compared to the tannic acid of our Wattle-Acacias and many other sorts of 

 tannin, but valuable still at least as an adjunct to other tanning-materials. Comte Maillard de 

 Marafy pointed out already several years ago, that the leaves of E. globulus could be utilized as a 

 substitute for Sumach, although we here find them of far less tan-strength, while the leaves of 

 E. Leucoxylon have yielded us here from dry material 9^ per cent, of Eucalypto-tannin, whereas 

 the dry foliage of Acacia pycnantha furnished as much as 15-16 per cent, of Mimosa-tannic acid, 

 and therefore still more approaches in its richdom of tan-principle to the genuine Sumach-leaves 

 of Rhus coriaria. Our experiments here showed, that about four weeks were required to effect 

 the tanning of cow-hides (which were used on this occasion) by simple immersion in the tan-liquor 

 as obtained by decoction without any additions of other substances, whether leaves or bark were 

 employed, except in the case of E. Gunnii, the tanning process with that species bemg completed 

 in two weeks and with E. goniocalyx in three weeks. The leather obtained from leaves of 

 E. Leucoxylon was grey-brown, hard and tough ; that from the bark of E. Gunnii light-brown 

 and rather flexible ; that from bark of E. viminalis, E. goniocalyx, and E. ahaygdalina reddish- 



