26 



DESCRIPTION. 



Following is the brief original description of the species : — 



Operculo conico medio constricto longitudine calycis, umbellis lateralibus, fructu globoso foliis 

 lineari-lanceolatis. 



The leaves are much narrower than in the preceding,* and the flowers not half so large; neither 

 is the cover, as in that, more in diameter than the calyx. The fruit is globose. I suspect that of 

 E. robusta to be turbinate with a reflexod margin, but I have seen it only half ripe. — Smith, in Trans, 

 Linn. Soc, iii, 284, 1797. 



It has been more amply defined in Bentham's Mora Australiensis (iii, 208), 

 and in Mueller's Euccdyptograpliia. 



Vernacular NaillCS. — It is the tree which most usually goes under the 

 name of " Blackball," and sometimes by way of distinction, for it attains enormous 

 size, as will be seen presently, the "Great Blackbutt." It is a stately, shapely 

 tree, and perhaps the best known of all the genus to Sydney residents, as it is so 

 abundant. It belongs to the group of cucalypts called " half-barked," because 

 its rough outer bark is confined to the trunk of the tree, the branches being smooth 

 and white. From the latter circumstance it shares with some other species the 

 designation of " White-top." The outer bark of this tree is fibrous and closely 

 matted, forming, if I may make the comparison, a sort of middle link between such 

 fibrous-barked trees as the Stringybarks, and such smooth ones as our White gum. 

 I do not know that the term " black," as applied to the butt, is particularly 

 appropriate; the word "grey" would be better, though exception could be taken 

 to this adjective also. 



Before the term " Gum " was restricted to those eucalypts which have 

 smooth or nearly smooth bark it was termed " Blackbutted Gum." 



" Flintwood " is an old name for this species, in allusion to the hardness 

 of the dry wood. 



It shades off imperceptibly into the Stringybarks, and forms of it are known 

 as Yellow Stringybark (from the yellow cast of the inner bark, at some seasons), 

 Messmate, and Stringybark. Other adjectives applied to Stringybark will be noted 

 under the forms described. 



* E. robusta, Sm. 



