DESCRIPTION. 



E. incrassata, Labillardiere. 



Following is the original description of the species : — 



Eucalyptus operculo conico, calycis longitudine ; umbellis ancipiti pedunculo axillaribus ; foliis 

 oblongis, erassiusculis, subacuniinatis. 



Sesquiorgyalis frutex, ramulis angulatis. Folio oblonga, acuminata, in petiolum ^ubdecurrentia, 

 crassiuscula, coriacea, nervulis exarata dcpressis, alterna. Flores pedicellis brevibus urabellati, ancipiti 

 pedunculo longitudine petiolorum axillares. Calyx turbinates, subangulatus, germini adnatus, ultra 

 productus, subcampanulatus. Operculum coriacem, calycis latitedine. Stamina numerosa, summo calyci 

 affixa ; antheris subglobosis, bilocularibus, apici filamentorum pedicellatis. Germen calyce immersum. 

 corticatum ; stylus vix staminibus longior, subulatus infra dilatatus, tetragonus ; stigma acutem. Capsula 

 ovato-turbinata, corticata calyce ultra producto, dilatato, quadrilocularis, intus et apice quadrifariam 

 dehiscens ; seminibus numerosis, oblongis, angulatis, ferrugineis, affixis receptaculo subcrustaceo-fungoso, 

 oblongo, ad singuli loculamenti angulum internum, axi fructus adnato. 



Habitat, in terra, Van-Leuwin. 



1. Calycis sectio longitudinalis, intacto pistillo. 



Obs. Quantum differat, praesertim foliis, ab Eucalypto rostrato, Cavan., ic. 4, p. 23, tab. 342 

 (E. robusta, Sm. J.H.M.,), et ab Eucalypto marginata, Smith, Linn. Trans. 6 p. 302, omnibus patet. 

 (Labillardiere in Nov. Holl. PI. ii, 12, t. 150.) 



See also an abbreviated description in DC. Prod, iii, 217. 



Ternaculai* names. — It is a "Mallee." A rnallee has a large massy stock 

 or dwarf trunk, from which spring a large number of stems. These stems sometimes 

 take on a circular" arrangement. Mallee roots or stumps are an esteemed article of 

 fuel wherever they can be obtained, and the following gives a good idea of their 

 massiveness and toughness. 



A well-established bull mallee is a problem to the ordinary grubbing contractor. The butt is a 

 great flattened bulb of curly timber, sometimes 8 or 10 feet through. It is set firmly into the soil, and 

 even if all the roots were cut off, the tree would stand in its place just the same, as the upper growth is 

 very insignificant compared with the base. Chopping a mallee out is an obvious impossibility, and as 

 the wood is full of moisture it would be an almost endless task to attempt burning it out. Dynamite and 

 rack-a-rock have proved equally useless. 



Before or rather behind the traction engine the difficulty disappears. For the rapid removal of 

 timber from land there is nothing to equal it. The only preliminary trouble lies in obtaining rope and 

 tackle sufficiently strong to enable the power of the engine to be exerted. The cable used for hauling out 

 the mallee stumps, at Mildura, is a steel-wire rope having a breaking strain of 100 tons, and the shackles 

 and anchoring gear are correspondingly stout. The first operation is to cut down all the trees, leaving the 

 stumps about 2 or 3 feet high. The trunk and branches are chopped up for firewood, and the leaves and 

 litter are raked up into heaps and burned. The traction engine, with an attendant gang of a dozen men, 

 then comes on the scene. The front end of the engine is first moored up to a stump, and the hind wheels 

 are chocked up with heavy billets of wood carried for the purpose. The main axle carries a revolving drum 



