232 



DESCRIPTION. 



E. eugenioides, Sieb. 



Sieber's definition of E. eugenioides is as follows : — ■ 



E. operculo mucronulato, umbellia lateralibus racemosis, ramulis teretibus, foliis ina?qualiter oblongo- 

 lanceolatis (Sprengel's Curm Posteriores, iv, 195), a description which would liave rendered it impossible 

 to state what species was meant, had not a specimen, named by Sieber, been in existence. 



It is also described in Mueller's " Eucalyptographia." The species may be 

 described as follows : — 



Vernacular Names. — It is usually known simply as " Stringybark." It is often known as 

 " White Stringybark " in this State and also in Victoria (A. W. Howibt), but the timber is often reddish, 

 and hence it bears the name of " Red Stringybark " also. In those cases E. capitellala from the same 

 district usually bears the name of " White Stringybark !" 



Juvenile Foliage. — Specimens of the type (Sieber's No. 479) are just — only just— past the 

 opposite stage. They are lanceolate, under § inch wide at the outside, and up to 2\ inches long. Venation 

 strongly marked. Leaves undulate and young shoots warty. (See fig. 2, pi. 40.) 



Mueller has figured* the juvenile foliage of the species in the Eucalypto- 

 graphia, and I accept it as certainly belonging to the species, although the figure 

 Would have had enhanced value had the locality of the specimen been given. 



Mature Leaves. — These are generally much thinner and more delicate in texture than those of 

 E. capitellala and E. macrorrhyncha ; the leaves are sometimes very shiny and much thicker than others. 

 They are also of a richer green, more shapely, graceful and Eugenia-like, a circumstance which led 

 t<> the adoption probably of the specific name. 



Buds. — The buds are clustered and often very much crowded into heads, by which the inflorescence 

 assumes a very marked character. The}* always have pointed opercula, but rarely angular, as in 

 E. capitellata, the points being sometimes so marked as to approach those of E. macrorrhyncha, but they 

 are then fuller on the top, and do not show such a prominent edge at the base of the operculum. Some- 

 times, e.g., Sydney to Blue Mountains, they are arranged in a stellate manner. 



Fruits. — Sieber having distributed no fruits with his type, I attach the following description of 

 fruits from trees in the Sydney district, which have juvenile and mature leaves, and flowers practically 

 identical with the type : — 



They are nearly hemispherical, with the valves slightly exsert ; but nearly globular fruits with the 

 valves sunk, and the orifice constricted, may be taken off the same tree. Occasionally the fruit is quite 

 flat-topped. The rim is often red, as red as those of E. licemastoma ever are. They are slightly pedicellate, 

 often crowded into more or less globular heads, but rarely compressed like those of E. capitellata. 



Timber. — When freshly cut usually dark brown, but drying to a pale warm brown and even 

 whiter. In some districts, however, the timber is distinctly red, even redder than the local E. capitellala 

 timber. 



* Mueller's figure shows a leaf longer than broad ; in E. capitellata we have a distinctly broad leaf. In some forms 

 referable to E. eugenioides we have a very narrow leaf. I have no hesitation in saying that a narrow juvenile leaf is the 

 standard or type for E. eugenioides (but see also fig. 10a, pi. 40), aud a broadish one for E. capitellata. The difficulty, of 

 course, begins with the intermediate forms. In many cases one cannot state whether the juvenile foliage is narrow or 

 broad, and evidence furnished by other characters is, in some c?ses, difficult to interpret. 



