160 



DESCRIPTION. 



LXXII. E. oligantha, Schauer. 



Following is the original description : — 



Schauer MSS. — Fruticosa, ramulis, patentib., rigidibus teretib. foil., coriaceis sabrotundo, ovatis in 

 petiolum contractis obtusis nervulosis, venosisq., subpellucide crebre punctatis untrinq. subopacis ; paniculis 

 terminalib. ex umbellis noiinullis trifloris conferta, pedunculis teretib., brevib. ; cupula hemisphaerico 

 turbinata in pedicellum ipsi subaequalem contracta operculo. . . . (?) Folia 2|-3 poll, loriga 2|-2£ 

 poll, lata, cupula ampliuscula cum pedicello 5 lin. metiens — in insula Copeland Island adoras septentrionales 

 Nova? Hollandise consists. A. Cunn, Herb. No. 250-1818 (Walpers' Rcpert., ii, 926, 1843). 



Bentham (B.F1. iii, 213) then gave a description of the species from such 

 material as was available. 



Mueller (in " Eucalyptographia," under E. polyanthema) says : — 



Of this species E. oligantha I have not seen authentic material, but it seems, according to the 

 description, close!}' allied to E. polyanthema, differing chiefly in stiffer leaves, somewhat larger flowers, 

 conical lid, and perhaps the (as yet unknown) fruit. 



1 have not even yet seen mature fruits, but from the unripe fruits available 

 (see Plate 61) it is safe to predict that the ripe fruit, when collected, will be urceolate 

 in shape. 



The juvenile foliage will be obviously very coarse and nearly orbicular, with 

 the intramarginal vein a good distance from the edge. 



The anthers are described by Bentham, and I find that drawings made in 

 Sydney of the anthers taken from the type collected by Allan Cunningham, and some 

 specimens collected by Mr. Fitzgerald, when subjected to similar conditions are 

 indistinguishable. The filaments are rather short. 



RANGE. 



It has only been collected from Copeland Island in the year 1819 by Allan 

 Cunningham, when with Captain P. G. King's voyage of circumnavigation of 

 Australia. This is now called Copeland Islet, a small wedge-shaped islet 125 feet 

 high, in the bight of Mountnorris Bay— lat. 20° 29' S., long. 132° 15' E. It is off the 

 Northern Territory. It is used by Malays during the trepang season for boiling and 

 drying out fish. 



Mr. W. V. Fitzgerald has also collected it between Tabletop Mountain and 

 Artesian Range, W.A. 



