1624 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



branchlets terete, reddish brown. Leaves (Plate 365, Fig. 10), on adult trees, 

 alternate, lanceolate, about 6 to 9 in. long and i to i^ in. broad, but often greater or 

 less than these dimensions ; falcate, thick and leathery, unequal and cuneate at the 

 base, gradually tapering to an acuminate apex, which ends in a long curved slender 

 point; margin revolute, whitish, undulate; both surfaces pale green and slightly 

 shining ; lateral veins numerous, arising at an angle of about 45°, with the circum- 

 ferential vein regularly distant about ^ in. from the margin; oil-dots scattered, 

 unequal, mostly concealed ; petiole twisted, flattened above, f to i^ in. long. Leaves 

 on young plants and suckers, opposite, decussate, with a short and not twisted 

 petiole; 2 to 5 in. long, i to 2^ in. broad; ovate, cordate at the base; acute or 

 rounded at the apex, which is tipped with a cuspidate point ; circumferential vein ^ 

 to ^ in. distant from the white revolute crenate margin ; both surfaces more or less 

 covered with a glaucous bloom, which is also present on the slender four -angled 

 branchlets. 



Flowers ^ axillary, solitary or rarely two or three in an umbel, borne on a short 

 laterally compressed stalk ; flower-buds large and covered with a glaucous bloom ; 

 calyx-tube pyramidal, nearly ^ in. long, f in. wide at the distal end, with four longi- 

 tudinal ridges, the lateral pair of which are very prominent; operculum hemispherical, 

 exceeding the calyx-tube in breadth and length, very tuberculate on the surface, with 

 a short triangular umbo ; stamens all fertile ; anthers ovate, with parallel cells ; 

 filaments inflexed in the bud. Fruit hemispheric or obpyramidate, glaucous, J to 

 I in. in diameter, with four longitudinal ridges, and an overhanging very broad rim, 

 separated from the calyx by a furrow ; capsule not sunk, the valves being nearly 

 level with the rim. 



The seedling ^ has a stem, terete at the base, and quadrangular towards the tip, 

 warty on the surface and covered with a glaucous whitish bloom. Cotyledons deeply 

 bifid, with obovate diverging lobes, about ^ in. long and f in. wide, three-nerved, the 

 middle nerve ending in the sinus. Primary leaves, opposite, decussate, sessile, the 

 first and second pairs linear-lanceolate and acute, tapering at both ends ; third and 

 fourth pairs lanceolate-oblong ; fifth to eighth pairs oblong. Leaves on the subse- 

 quently developed branches, oblong, and subcordate at the base. 



Varieties 



According to Mueller,' most of the Victoria specimens have smaller flowers and 

 fruits, the latter more convex than those in Tasmania. According to Rodway,* the 

 common form in eastern Victoria bears three-flowered umbels ; while in Tasmania 

 the flowers are usually solitary. In cultivated specimens, however, the number of 

 flowers in the umbel appears to be an inconstant character, though solitary flowers are 

 usually borne in England. Rodway further states* that in Tasmania, where this 



1 This species frequently flowers when very young. In Card. Chron. xi. i8o (1892), a specimen three years old and 

 7 ft. high is said to have flowered in Thomson's nursery at Sparkhill, Birmingham. 



2 Lubbock, Seedlings, i. 530, fig. 339 (1892). 3 pi ^^^tr. iii. 225 (1866). 

 * In J. C. Penny, Tasmanian Forestry, 15 (905). 



