Eucalyptus 1 643 



to f in. wide, straight or occasionally slightly falcate, cuneate at the base, and 

 gradually tapering to an acuminate apex, tipped with a short point ; greyish green 

 on both surfaces ; thick and firm, with most of the oil-glands concealed ; entire in 

 margin ; venation as in E. Gunnii ; petiole twisted, |- to ^ in. long. 



Flowers in umbels of threes, slightly glaucous, and with a more conical calyx- 

 tube than in E. Gunnii. Fruit slightly larger than that of E. Gunnii, urn-shaped, 

 with the rim overhanging the contracted part of the fruit just below it ; capsule sunk, 

 with three valves not extending when open to the orifice. 



This tree is considered by Maiden,^ who has seen branches both of the parent 

 tree and of its seedlings, to be E. Gunnii; but it does not match any of the 

 specimens in the Kew Herbarium, either of that species or of -£". acervula, which is 

 united with E. Gunnii by Maiden. It resembles E. acervula in the absence of 

 glaucous bloom on the branchlets and in the size and shape of the leaves ; but has 

 only three flowers in each umbel and bears different fruit. It is certainly not E. 

 urnigera. Seedlings of the parent tree show considerable variation in the foliage, 

 which in some specimens, together with the branchlets and flowers, is glaucous ; 

 and this points to a hybrid origin. Moreover, some of the seedlings at least are 

 considerably hardier than the parent. I have not been able to make a study of the 

 seedling trees in a fruiting stage ; but I suspect that the Whittingehame tree is a 

 hybrid, with E. Gunnii as one of the parents. The peculiar urn-like shape of the 

 fruit suggests the probability of E. urnigera being the other parent, though the tree 

 at Whittingehame does not resemble the latter in foliage. (A. H.) 



This remarkable tree is growing at Whittingehame,^ the seat of the Right 

 Hon. Arthur Balfour in East Lothian, where it was planted about sixty years ago, 

 and is believed to have been raised from seeds brought by the late Marquess of 

 Salisbury from Australia or Tasmania. Lady Gwendolen Cecil informs me that her 

 father made his voyage round the world in 1851-1852^ and visited both Tasmania 

 and New Zealand, as well as Australia, in which country she believes that his stay 

 was very brief ; so that there is little doubt that the tree is of Tasmanian origin. 

 In February 1904, when I measured it, it was 60 to 63 ft. high and 13 ft. 5 in. 

 in girth at two feet from the ground, where it divides into three stems, which after- 

 wards divide into six main limbs of which the largest is over 5 feet in girth (Plate 

 363). I was informed by the late Mr. John Garrett, the gardener, that after the 

 severe frost of 1861 it was killed down to 9 feet from the ground; but in 1894 it 

 endured a temperature* of - 2° without serious injury. It ripens seed almost every 

 year about September, and the seeds germinate and grow equally well if sown in 

 autumn or spring. The bark of the old tree is more or less scaly and can be heard 

 cracking in hot weather, and it remains green all the winter. 



1 In a note on a specimen at Kew, Maiden wrote in 1901 : " E. Gunnii, varying a little from the type under cultivation." 

 I sent in 1908 a number of specimens to Maiden, some of which he identified as E. Gunnii, whilst others he named 

 E. Whitiingehamensis. 



2 Whittingehame is three and a half miles from the sea, and 384 ft. altitude. The subsoil is gravel. 



3 The Rev. Dr. Landsborough states that the seed was sown in 1845, but this is erroneous ; 1852 is the probable date. 



4 Dr Landsborough, in Trans. Bot. Soc. Edin. xxiii. 144 (1905) quotes a letter from Garrett, stating that "in the year 

 1894-1895, when on two nights the mercury sank at Whittingehame to zero, the young plants did not lose a leaf, while all 

 those of the parent tree were destroyed." 



