343 



collected near Mt. Owen, adjacent to the River ]\Iaranoa, Queensland. I have seen 

 Mitchell's specimens, and will give a figure (sufficient to bring out the characters) 

 under E. alba, Reinw. 



Bentham ( B.F1. iii, 243) has a note on these specimens, which, he says, belong 

 •more probably to E. platyphylla than to E.polyanthemos. The fact is, that they are 

 indubitable platyphylla, which is a synonym of E. alba. 



I will discuss the matter when I figure E. alba, but it appears to me that 

 E. populifolim, Hook. (1848), is a synonym of E. alba, and that E. populifolius, 

 Hook. (1852), is the " Bimbil " or " Glossy-leaved Box," and must fall, were it not 

 that it has been in universal use for over half a century, and there seems to be a 

 general consensiis of opinion amongst botanists that names so used should stand, 

 irrespective of the laws of strict priority. (Vienna Code.) The next oldest name 

 is, of course, E. populnea, F.v.M. 



E. alba has leaves of a Poplar shape, but usually much larger than those of 

 E. populifolia, and less shiny. The fruits and buds are quite different and the trees 

 differ in other obvious and important particulars — e.g., the smooth or flaky bark of 

 E. alba as compared with the fibrous bark of E. populifolia. 



2. With E. bieolor, A. Cunn. 



A " Drooping Box " of the river-flats of the interior. Its drooping habit 

 would at once distinguish it from normal E. populifolia ; so would its lanceolar, dull 

 (often pale) leaA'es, and its red timber. The barks of both trees are Box-like ; the 

 fruits of E. bieolor are larger and more sub-cylindrical than those of E. populifolia . 



3. With E. Behriana, P.v.M. 



E. populifolia is a larger tree ; its habit is erect and Poplar-like ; it lias a 

 rough (Box-like) bark. In all these particulars it differs froin E. Behriana. The 

 leaves of E. populifolia sometimes resemble those of E. Behriana in shape and 

 lustre (see p. 341) ; the inflorescences are sufficiently similar (the filaments of both 

 are short) to put one on one's guard, though the fruits are dissimilar. Usually the 

 inflorescence of E. Behriana is more paniculate, and the fruits more cylindrical and 

 darker in colour. 



