53 



E. saligna is the stately " Blue Gum " of rich soil flats, which yields the timber bo well and bo 

 favourably known in New South Wales. Bark smooth, and with a little rough bark at the butt. 

 E. botryoides is known as "Bangalay" or "Bastard Mahogany," and is a rough-barked (corky scaly) 

 gnarled tree found in low-lying situations near the sea. E. botryoides has coarser fruits, with the valves 

 not exserted ; buds coarser, more squat ; opercula more blunt. I see no difference in the seedling leaves 

 or in the timber. Between the two type3, as already defined, I find perfect connecting links ; and the 

 differences are, I am satisfied, entirely owing to soil and aspect. 



Messrs. Baker and Smith distilled leaves of E. saligna from Lismore, N.S.W., and of E. botryoides 

 from Milton, N.S.W., and found differences in the composition of the particular distillates obtained by 

 them.* I would suggest that here we have an excellent opportunity, by making a series of distillations of 

 leaves of E. saligna and E. botryoides to see whether any real difference between the trees can be 

 ascertained that morphology fails to show. I believe that, by testing, at the same season, the trees which 

 morphologically show a complete transition between the two species, the oils would show a transition 

 equally complete. 



Holding the views that I do as to the identity of E. saligna and E. botryoides, I am obliged to 

 combine them. I therefore propose to reduce E. botryoides to a variety of E. saligna. Both species were 

 described by Sir James Smith in the same paper/j" but, following the precedent that has been adopted by a 

 number of botanists, E. saligna (p. 285 ; E. botryoides is p. 286) is the earlier name because it was 

 described earlier in the paper. 



New South Wales is the home of the types, both of E. saligna and E. botryoides. It will be 

 convenient, as will be seen presently, to deal with E. saligna-botryoides in this order : — Queensland, New 

 South Wales, Victoria. 



Queensland. — Following are notes showing the additions Mr. F. M. Bailey has made in his 

 " Queensland Flora - to Bentham's " Flora Australiensis ": — 



E. botryoides, Sm. " A tall, handsome tree, with a rough, furrowed, persistent bark towards the 

 base, white and smooth on the upper part of trunk and branches." Mr. Bailey only adds the words in my 

 italics, which are a description of the bark of typical saligna. 



He adds : " Brisbane ; various southern localities, in mountain gullies and river flats (probably the 

 largest tree of the Queensland species). Wood of a red colour, close in grain, hard, tough, and durable ; 

 useful in large buildings, wheelwrights' work, and in all work where large beams of hardwood are required." 

 This is an accurate description of E. saligna. 



The only alleged Queensland locality given in the " Flora Australiensis " (" Brisbane, Blue Gum, 

 McArthur, No. 91, of Paris Exhibition Woods ") is founded on an error, as will be explained later. 



Coming to E. saligna Sm., Bentham in the "Flora Australiensis " omits Queensland, but Bailey 

 adds "Forests in southern parts," and describes the timber : " Wood very tough and close-grained ; very 

 hard ; of a grey colour," which is not a description of saligna timber. 



In the " Catal. of the Queensland Forestry Museum " (Forest Branch, Lands Department, 

 1904) we have : — 



(a) "No. 241. Grey Gum (Eucalyptus saligna) : Plentiful : generally found on mountain slopes or 

 in deep gullies on and near the coast of Southern Queensland. Usually a very tall tree, with thick grey 

 bark, and having longitudinal patches of a brownish colour. Wood red colour, close-grained, hard, and 

 durable. Logs split rather freely at the ends on quarter. Used for general building purposes, This is 

 undoubtedly E. saligna. 



(b) " No. 260. Flooded Gum (Eucalyptus botryoides) : Plentiful in moist situations, on the borders 

 of scrubs and mountain gullies along the coast of Southern Queensland. A very large tree, with a long 

 smooth trunk of almost perfect cylindrical form, extending often 50 or 60 feet without a branch ; bark 

 deciduous, falling off in long narrow strips, often very white, and sometimes of a pale-green colour. Wood 

 pink-brown ; not so hard or heavy as many other Eucalypts. Splits on the quarter rather freely. Logs, 

 when cut about six months, will almost float in sea-water. Used for general building purposes, but 

 w 11 not last in the ground. Makes good flooring and weatherboards, joists, and studs. Being 

 comparatively light, it is suitable for punt-building." This is, doubtless, that form of E. saligna known 

 in New South Wales as " Flooded Gum," and discussed by me at length in Agric. Gazette, N.S. Wales, 

 and in the " Forest Flora " of N.S. Wales (Part iv, p. 75). (It is var. pallidivalvis, Baker and Smith.) 



•"Research on the Eucalypts." t Trans. Linn. Soc. iii, 1797, 



