Ailavtiius.] XXX. SiMAEUBEifi. 217 



ovules solitary in each cell. Fruit of 1 to 5, oblong, membranous samarse, 

 thickened in the centre round the seed. Seed flattened ; testa membranous ; 

 albumen scanty; cotyledons leafy, nearly orbicular.— Trees. Leaves alternate, 

 pinnate ; leaflets oblique. Flowers small, in terminal panicles. 



Besides the Australian species, which is endemic, the genus comprises 3 others, natives of the 

 warmer regions of Asia, one of them much planted in various parts of the globe and in 

 Queensland, and found as a stray from cultivation. 



Panicle not much-branched i, a. imberbiflora. 



Panicle much-branched 2. A glandulosa. 



1. A. imberbiflora (beardless flowers), B. c. M. Frar/m. iii. 42 ; Benth. FL 

 Auxti: i. 373. A tall tree, said to attain 100ft., quite glabrous in all its parts. 

 Leaflets about 15 to 50, shortly petiolulate, apparently obliquely ovate- lanceolate 

 and 2 or 3in. long, but much broken in the only specimen seen. Panicles not 

 much branched. Male flowers on short pedicels, in little clusters along the 

 upper part of the branches. Calyx very small. Petals about IJ line long, 

 quite glabrous, valvate not induplicate, and the points scarcely inflexed. Stamens 

 exserted. Female flowers not seen. Samarse in our specimens attaining at least 

 2in. in lenth and ^in. in breadth. 



Hab.: Brisbane Eiver, Eockhampton ; Mount Perry, J. Keys ; Port Denison, F. v. Mueller. 



Evidently, as suggested by P. v. Mueller, very nearly allied to the E. Indian A. malabarica, 

 DC. Prod. ir. 89, Wight, Ic t. 1604, which indeed seems only to differ in a slight pubescence on 

 the panicle and in rather large flowers and fruits. — Benth. 



Wood yellow, porous, soft and light. — Bailey'x Cat. Ql. Wood.'i No. 57. 



Var. Macartneyi, Bail. Bot. Bull. a. " Koorootha," Forest Hill, Macartney. A very large 

 tree, exuding from the bark when wounded a copious flow of a colourless, transparent, resinoils 

 liquid. The young branchlets and inflorescence more or less covered with a yellowish mealy 

 tomentum. Leaves slender, 6 to 9in. long including the rather ling petiole, but probably much 

 longer on young trees. Leaflets on the leaves near to the inflorescence 3 to 13, narrow- 

 lanceolate, about Sin. long, membranous, very oblique, the under side pale, on petiolules of 1 to 

 3 lines. Panicles in the axils near the end of the branchlets (male), slender, about 5in. long, 

 and with few short branches. Flowers singly on pedicels longer than the flowers. Calyx-lobes 

 minute with ciliate margins. Petals glabrous, IJ line long, broad-lanceolate, valvate, 

 with thickened margins, the tips slightly inflexed. Stamens scarcely exserted ; filaments 

 flexuose, 3 times longer than the rather large nearly globular anthers. The female flowers not 

 seen, but from the panicles of fruit to hand it is probable that the female panicles are much 

 longer than the male ; one bearing nearly ripe samarse measured over 9in. long, and had 2 or 3 

 rather long branches : the samarse were usually in clusters of 3, about 2Jin. long and 8 lines 

 broad, membranous, and delicately veined, and were borne upon pedicels of about lin. or more. 

 Hab.: Forest Hill, Mackay, W. Macartney, January, 1895. Wood of a light colour, soft and light. 



Yields a large quantity of resin, which contains : Water, 7'3% ; essential oil, 9-5% ; alpha 

 resin, 236%; beta resin, 65'4% ; impurities, 3-8%. The essential oil of this resin agrees in its 

 properties with that of Ailanthus glandulosa. It may be supposed, therefore, to act similarly to 

 that ; and, indeed, 2 drachms of the resin dissolved in lucca oil and given to a big dog 

 produced strong purging. Very likely it acts as an anthelmintic too. While I worked with the hot 

 resin, sublimating the oil or mixing it with fats, etc., I felt a nauseous sensation coming over me. 

 It makes a good ointment for chronic ulcers, used pure or mixed with wax and lard. Fresh cuts 

 and sores are not to be treated with this resin on account of the acrid oil. Technically, the 

 resin might be adhibited for softening too hard and too quickly drying alcoholic varnishes, 

 especially for tin and smooth metal surfaces, where a brittle varnish is liable to fall oft after 

 drying in the sun. With wax and turpentine it makes a good paste to fix paper labels 

 permanently on tin boxes. — Lauterer. 



Although stated to be quite glabrous, so far as my observations go A. imberbiflora, P. v. M.. 

 is always rusty- tomentose on the very young growth ; there may, however, be several forms of 

 the tree. The present seems to differ in the more copious flow of resin from its wounded stem, 

 more slender branchlets, and the longer pedicels to its more distantly separated flowers. This form 

 is very likely identical with the trees growing in the scrubs at Brookfield, Brisbane River. The 

 form growing at Eockhampton and Mount Perry has the leaves much crowded at the end of the 

 thick branchlets : the flowers also are more clustered, on shorter pedicels, and the stamens 

 exserted. 



