114 



9. E. viminalis Labill., var. (b.) Howitt. 



This Eucalypt is sub-alpine, and appears some 700 ft. above sea-level, as at Dargo and Noyang, but 

 somewhat higher on the Wellington River and at Gelantipy. It also grows about Morwell, where, 

 together with E. pauciflora, it forms part of the forest, just as it does throughout the alpine and sub-alpine 

 localities which are its special habitat. In the highest tracts, as at Dargo High Plains, it grows to a 

 height of over 1 00 ft. It has a rather massive bole, with moderately spreading limbs, and fairly full 

 foliage. The bark is smooth and very white, excepting near the ground, where it more or less persists ; it 

 has frequently, when about to dehisce, a decided "coppery" tint upon the bole and limbs. The wood is 

 somewhat soft, not very fissile, and resembles that of the lowland form (E. acervula, Hook, f.) except that 

 it has a more reddish or pinkish tint. The leaves are lanceolar, slightly falcate, and more or less 

 attenuated at the stalk, the marginal vein is usually but slightly removed, the lateral veins numerous, not 

 very marked, and inclined at about an angle of 40 deg. with the midrib. The umbels are axillary or 

 solitary, and the stalklets about as long as the buds. The buds are ovate, most commonly three in 

 number, and arranged in the cruciform manner so characteristic of E. viminalis. The lid is semi-ovate, 

 smooth, and occasionally pointed, but is not mammillated, as is the case with E. Stuartiana. Judging by 

 the examples which I have examined, I think the buds of this variety are more broadly ovate, have shorter 

 stalks, and more rounded lids than those of the lowland form. The fruit is semi-ovate, with a somewhat 

 wide and more or less convex margin, and with rather strong deltoid and protruding valves. 



These characteristics are those of the typical E. viminalis, but the seedlings and young saplings 

 have peculiarities which raise doubts whether indeed this Eucalypt should not rather be referred to 

 E. Stuartiana. 



The seedlings have round or ovate opposed leaves, which are closely sessile, rarely they are ternary 

 in verticals, the stems as well as the leaves are mealy, and thus resemble very strongly, as also in other 

 respects, the young plants of E. pulverulmUa as it grows in Gippsland, rather than those of 

 E. Stuartiana. 



Even when as high as 8 ft. or 10 ft. the saplings still have pulverulent leaves of an ovate form and 

 opposed position, and the grown trees themselves occasionally show a reversion to this structure at the 

 ends of their pendant branches. In some localities, as for instance at Dargo, this tree grows together 

 with E. Stuartiana, the latter being in its typical form. When the seedlings and saplings of these 

 trees are thus compared, those of E. Stuartiana are found to be much less mealy, to be of thicker 

 consistence, and more pointed than those of this variety of E. viminalis, in which the opposed condition 

 of the leaves is continued much longer than in E. Stuartiana. There can be no doubt that E. viminalis 

 and E. Stuartiana are nearly allied, and it becomes necessary now to inquire to which of these this Eucalypt 

 stands nearest. E. viminalis differs from E. Stuartiana, as I have observed them to be in Gippsland, by 

 having much smaller limbs as compared to the bole. The leaves of the former are smaller, as a rule, more 

 attenuated at the stalk, of thinner consistence and lighter colour. The marginal vein is less distant, the 

 lateral veins more numerous, nearer together, and more obscure. The angle formed by the lateral veins, 

 with the direction of the midrib, is greater in E. viminalis than in E. Stuartiana. 



The mean of a considerable number of measurements gave 10 deg. more for the former than the 

 latter. In the greater number of cases the umbels of E. viminalis are three in number, arranged in a 

 cruciform manner, while those of E. Stuartiana are more numerous and not so arranged. The buds of 

 E. viminalis are more ovate, with a rounded, or at most, minutely pointed lid ; those of E. Stuartiana 

 are distinctly pointed, or even mammillated. The stalklets of E. viminalis are, as a rule, shorter, 

 particularly in the mountain form, although in some cases those of the lowland forms are as long, or 

 longer, than those of A'. Stuartiana. 



The fruit of E. viminalis is more ovate than that of E. Stuartiana, with a rim, which is always 

 more or less convex, or frequently strongly so. 



Especially is this the case in the lowland form along the river courses, but is less so in the 

 mountain form. 



In the mountain form the fruit is usually more hemispherical than in the lowland variety, with a 

 convex vertex, and the valves somewhat weaker, although protruding. It is in those examples which grow 

 at the highest altitudes, as, for instance, the Dargo High Plains, 4,500 ft., that I have observed the form 

 of the fruit to resemble that of E. Stuartiana. and in these the fruit is semi-ovate, the rim not very wide, 



