196 



The Teak Group. 



1. Flindersia australis (Native Teak). 



2. Flindersia Bennettiana (Crow's Ash or Bogum-Bogum). 



3. Flindersia Oxleyana (Yellow- wood). 



4. Flindersia Schottiana (Cudgerie). 



Flindersia uustrahs, R. ]3r. 



The NATrv'E Teak. 



Botanical Name. — Flindersia, in honour of Captain Matthew Flinders. 

 Brown's words are as follows : — 



The- examination of Broad Sound (where the species was collected) was 

 completed at the same time (September, 1802) by Captain Flinders, to com- 

 memorate whose merits I have selected this genus from the considerable num- 

 ber discovered in the expedition, of which he was the able and active com- 

 mander. Aitstralis, 'L&tia, Southern (Australian). 



Yernacular Names. — "Teak" is the common name — that or "Native 

 Teak." The confusion of this species with F. Betinettiana will be diealt 

 with below. 



" Crow's Ash " in Queensland, according to F. II. Bailey. I have, not 

 heard such a name applied to F. australis in New South Wales. F. Bennett- 

 iana is sometimes known by that name. 



TeaJc and Cudgerie. — The present affords an excellent opportunity of 

 drawing attention to the pioneer work which even yet remains to be done 

 in regard to some of even the most important of our trees. Flindersia 

 Bennettiana has been called Teak for many years, and the statement has 

 long been allowed to go unchallenged. On working up the genus, for the 

 purposes of tlifi '' Forest Flora," I found, however, that Teak is really the 

 product of F. australis. Furthermore, " Cudgerie " has for many years 

 been looked upon as the vernacular for F. australis, but inquiry shows that 

 the Cudgerie is properly F. Schottiana. The confusion, which is now cleared 

 up, appears to have originated in Exhibition catalogues, and is not surpris- 

 ing. The fruits have been wrongly matched, and anyone who has had 

 , experience of the difficulties of botanising in the rich brush forests of this 

 State knows how very easy it is to attribute to a monarch of the forest, 

 with its towering leafy top, the wrong flowers or fruits, which are usually 

 only obtained lying on the ground, blown off by the wind or torn off by a 

 parrot or cockatoo. 



As the miatter of distinguishing between F. australis and F. Bcliotiiana 

 is of importance, I would emphasise the following: — They can be readily 

 distinguished by the leaves; the leaflets in F. Schottiana are sessile or 

 nearly so, with a broad very oblique base, except the terminal odd one; in 

 F. australis, they are narrowed into a conspicuous petiole audi scarcely 

 oblique at the base. 



