EUCALYPTUS CORDATA. J^i 



Labillardiere, Novae Hollandiae plantarum specimen ii. 13, t. 152 (1806) ; Sprengel, systema vegetabilium ii. 501 ; 

 De Candolle, prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis iii. 221 ; Gr. Don, general system of dichlamy- 

 deons plants ii. 821 ; D. Dietrich, synopsis plantarum iii. 123 ; J. Hooker, flora Tasmanica i. 132 ; Bentham, 

 flora Australiensie iii. 224. 



Arborescent ; branchlets mostly sharp-quadrangular ; leaves all sessile and opposite, orbicular- 

 cordate or sometimes broad-ovate, always clasping at the base, slightly crenulated, dull-green 

 on both sides ; the lateral veins very spreading, rather distant, somewhat prominent, the 

 circumferential vein irregularly remote from the edge of the leaf ; oil-glands copious, unequal, 

 transparent ; Jlowers axillary, seldom also terminal, three or sometimes two rarely four together ; 

 calyces as well as flowerstalks and branchlets and sometimes also the leaves more or less tinged 

 b y a greyish- or bluish-whit e bloom ; stalks not or somewhat angular, about as long as the 

 flowers or shorter or wanting; stalklets 'none; tube of the calyx mostly semiovate, somewhat or 

 , doubly longer than the depressed-hemispherical short-pointed lid, not angular ; stamens all 

 fertile, inflexed before expansion ; anthers nearly ovate, bursting by longitudinal slits ; stigma 

 not dilated ; fruits semiovate or verging into a hemispheric form, 3- or 4- or rarely 6-celled, not 

 angular ; rim narrow, slightly annular ; valves deltoid, affixed not far below the orifice, but 

 quite enclosed or only their apex exserted ; placental column about twice as long as broad ; 

 sterile seeds much narrower than the fertile seeds, partly elongated, all without any appendage. 



In the south-eastern literal region of Tasmania, thus on D'Entrecasteaux's Channel, on the 

 lower Huon-Eiver and towards the mouth of the Derwent, ascending to elevations of 1,600 feet 

 above the sea level, occurring chiefly in poor s haley ground . 



The original discoverer of this species found it near Eecherche-Bay, and it was noticed 

 subsequently in the same region by Dr. R. Brown, Sir Joseph Hooker, Mr. E. Gunn, Mr. T. 

 Stephens and Mr. F. Abbott. To the two last-mentioned gentlemen I am indebted for material, 

 enabling me to describe and illustrate this species. It may have been more frequent before 

 Hobart was built, but it still occurs, though sparingly, within two miles of the city. Perhaps 

 it extends to Port Davey, the interjacent coast-region being botanically almost unexplored. 



It seems often to remain of shrubby growth ; rooted specimens^re before me barely 3 feet 

 high, yet bearing flowers and fruits already. In that state it is the dwarfest of all Eucalypts, 

 except E. verrucosa, although the latter may constitute merely a glacial-grown pygmy-form of E. 

 Gunnii. Nevertheless E. cordata rises often to 30 feet he ight, as noticed by Mr. Abbott ; — and inas- 

 much as trees 50 feet high were seen by Mr. Coombs on the Sandfly-Eivulet, showing a stem- 

 diameter of 18 inches, it seems quite likely, that Labillardi&re, while wandering through the 

 grand and then undisturbed forests along d'Entrecasteaux-Channel, noticed still higher trees of E. 

 cordata, justifying to some extent the designation " arbor procera," bestowed by him on this species. 



Branches usually not numerous. Bark of stem comparatively thin, solid, outside but very 

 slightly wrinkled, dark-colored and marked with w hitish blo tches. Sap sweet (Abbott). The 

 pairs of leaves stand crosswise above each other as in all other Eucalypts with opposite 

 leaves ; they are seldom so pointed and perhaps never so strongly crenulated as from Eedout^'s 

 delineation they would appear, an observation recorded already in 1819 by E. Brown in the 

 Botanical Magazine 2087 ; and certainly the lateral veins of the leaves are too strongly marked 

 in the plate of Labillardi^re's work. Greatest length of leave s 4 inches ; the summit rounded- 

 blunt or sometimes terminated by a short narrow point ; crenulations sometimes obliterated ; 

 pellucid glandular dots in the leaves angular; reticular veinlets very subtle. Occasionally a 



