278 



Mature leaves. — Rigid, very coriaceous, varying from narrow-linear to ovate-lanceolate. Usually 

 hooked at the apex. Often glossy. 



Buds. — Operculum very short, nearly hemispherical, surmounted by a point (umbonate), often 

 red in fresh specimens. Much shorter than the calyx-tube. Bentham speaks of the buds as ovoid. This 

 is hardly true as a general rule. They are clavate, and often yellowish, especially the operculum.* 



Flowers. — The stamens are folded in the bud, and the anthers are all fertile and renantherous. The 

 peduncles flattened or angular. Each with 4 to 8 (Bentham), or 5 or 6 (De Candolle), shortly pedicellate 

 small flowers. Calyx-tube not 2 lines in diameter, tapering. 



Fruits. — Globose-truncate, smooth, often glossy, up to 5 lines broad and 6 deep, but varying in 

 size, contracted at the orifice, i.e., slightly urceolate, the rim narrow or thin, the capsule sunk, and the 

 valves not protruding. Usually the valves are very much sunk, but occasionally (e.g., at Wentworth 

 Falls) the tips of the valves are flush with the top of the capsule. 



The capsule is usually sunk in Blue Mountains specimens, the edge of the capsule (rim) being thin 

 and gradually sloping into the orifice. 



In this variety we have: — 



1. The Mallee form. 



2. The arboreal form. Distinct looking enough, in extreme forms, but they run 



into one another, and certainly cannot be separated in herbarium specimens. 



The arboreal form, besides its size, has broader leaves, and is larger generally. 



At page 159, Part VI, of this work, I refer to " a fourth cultivated specimen " (of 

 E. ambigua, DC), there doubtfully attributed to E. stricta, Sieb. It is remarkably 

 like the arboreal form of E. stricta just referred to, and depicted at fig. 17, Plate 43. 



3. Var. jraxinoides, Maiden (Syn. E. fraxinoides, Deane and Maiden). 

 See page 87, Part xxv, of my " Forest Flora of New South Wales." 

 A tall tree. 



Bark. — Smooth-barked, the outer layer falling off in ribbons ; the bark blotched, reminding one 

 somewhat of a Spotted Gum (E. maculata) as regards its blotches, and E. viminalis (Ribbon Gum) as regards 

 the stripping of the outer bark. 



Timber. — Pale-coloured, light in weight and colour, fissile. 



Juvenile leaves. — Only seen in the alternate stage, varying from bluntly lanceolate to almost linear- 

 lanceolate ; slightly falcate ; twigs very glaucous. 



Buds. — Ovoid when young ; as growth proceeds the operculum more or less pointed at the top, 

 and thus assuming a somewhat conical shape; up to seven or eight in the umbel. 



Flowers. — Peduncles flattened ; stamens inflexed in bud ; the anthers reniform. 



Fruit. — Shining, nearly globular ; usually ^ inch in diameter, or a little less ; urc3olate in young 

 fruit, the neck being almost lost in the mature fruit. The rim sharp. The valves usually five, and very 

 depressed. 



Range. — On high mountain ranges of the extreme southern part of New South Wales (Tantawanglo 

 Mountain, near Cathcart). 



The affinity of this variety is closest with var. stricta. It differs from the latter 

 in being a large tree, in the shape of the fruits, and in the venation of the leaves. 



* Bentham notes that the operculum is not longer than the calyx-tube. It is usually very much shorter. It may 

 be remarked that in regard to the genera] shape of the operculum with its mnb > tlii" spe i -^ bears resemblance to var, 



