17 



The timber is of a red colour, and not of great economic importance. Mr. 

 Gill gave me the following notes : — 



I took the opportunity of working some of it at Kuitpo, and on mortising the holes for slip-panel 

 rails, found the timber to be quite the easiest cutting gum I have yet come across, as the chisel cuts it 

 readily and the auger bores it with equal facility. So easy does it seem after working other gums such as 

 hueozylon, obliqua and Jaxiculosa • , that one almost begins to doubt its value for lasting. And yet I find 

 that people in the districts where it does not grow are in the habit of getting it if they can for stockyard 

 posts, as, combined with its easy working nature, it possesses a character for lasting well in the ground. 



I found it to split readily on the quarter, but to " back " badly with irregular fracture along the 

 annual rings of growth. 



It is called " Scrub Gum " by some, but has, I believe, other vernacular appellations. 



The foliage is usually thick ish and coarse, but it varies somewhat in size. 

 This species obeys the general rule that leaves are much smaller when taken 

 from the top of a tall tree. 



Varieties. 



Mueller distributed two named varieties of this species, but he lost sight of 

 them in recent vears, and may have abandoned them altogether. 



1. Yar. leprosula. Following is a translation of the description already given : — 



Branches rather slender, angular, the peduncles and the inflorescence covered 

 by a whitish evanescent roughness. The leaves have somewhat long petioles (the 

 petioles are thicker by a thumb's breadth), falcate-lanceolate, acute or obtuse, 3-4 

 inches long, ^-1 broad, peduncles cylindrical or compressed, 3 flowered, 2-2^ lines 

 long, flowers shortly pedicellate (pedicels ancipitous), the calyx-tube turbinate and 

 funnel-shaped. 



I saw a specimen in Mueller's handwriting in a European herbarium labelled 

 " Mt. Lofty, has calyx more angled and operculum more pointed than usual " (see 

 notes on the figures at page 22) . 



2. Var. rostrigera. I have not seen a formal description of this, but a label by 

 Mueller reads as follows: — "Var. rostrigera, Eerd. Mull., Mt. Barker Ranges. 

 Operculum more beaked than usual." 



RANGE. 



It is confined to South Australia, chiefly in the ranges around Adelaide, and 

 to Kangaroo Island. In the island it is called " Bog Gum," since it grows in 

 stagnant, swampy depressions ; at the same time Mueller quotes TTaterhouse as 

 finding it on bushv ridges. On the mainland it is not found further from Adelaide 

 than the hills around Encounter Bay. 



In Mt. Lofty Range often accompanied by Stringyhark (E. obliqua) and 

 Pink Gum (E. fasciculosa) (W. Gill). Following are specific localities for some 

 specimens in the National Herbarium, Sydney : — Tbe Mount Lofty Range generally ; 

 "Blue Gum," Mt. Lofty (Max Koch); Mylor (W. Gill); Bridgewater (J. M. 

 Black) ; Aldgate (R. IT. Cambage and J.H.M.) ; Kuitpo Eorest, near TTillunga 

 (W. Gill) ; Harriet River, Kangaroo Island (Dr. and Mrs. R. S. Rogers) ; Kangaroo 

 Island (J. Staer). 



