164 



DESCRIPTION. 



CXLVII. E. Kitsoniana (J. G. Luehmann) Maiden. 



As E. Kitsoni in Victorian Naturalist xxi, 112 (1904). 



Following is the original description : — 



Eucalyptus Kitsoni, J. G. Luehmann, Herb.* 



This species-name has already found its way into literature, but the species has not been described, 

 through the unfortunate illness of my friend Mr. J. G. Luehmann, F.L.S., Curator of the National Herbarium, 

 Melbourne. One reference is in the Victorian Naturalist,^ and the plant has also been distributed by 

 Mr. Luehmann under the name above given. 



A dwarf tree. It usually does not grow higher than 4 feet to 5 feet, but at Foster it is found 18 to 

 20 feet in height. (A. W. Howitt. )J Mr. Howitt informed me that it attained a height of 30 feet. 



Hark. — Smooth in texture and ashy-grey in colour, which becomes lighter in the upper branches. 

 (A. W. Howitt, op. cit.) 



Juvenile Foliage. — The youngest specimens seen by me are oblong to broadly lanceolarin shape, 

 sessile, or with a very short petiole, rounded at the apex, or terminating in a blunt point, symmetrical; 

 texture coriaceous. The dimensions of some specimens are 3 x If inches and 5 x 2\ inches. Veins w r ell 

 marked, spreading, the intramarginal vein a considerable distance from the edge. 



Mature Foliage. — When in a flowering state this tree has sometimes a few oblong leaves, but 

 they vary in all degrees of width of lanceolar shape up to, say, i inches long by half an inch wide. Leaves 

 on flowering twigs may be a little different from the juvenile foliage stage, either as regards shape or position 

 of intramarginal vein. Fully developed leaves have the intramarginal vein close to the edge, and are 

 pctiolar, with a petiole of an inch and more. 



Buds with blunt conoid operculum when unripe, the calyx sessile on a broad (strap-shaped) peduncle. 

 When near bursting the operculum is either perfectly hemispherical or with a slight umbo. 



Flowers. — In a head of usually seven individual flowers, but they may be as few as three. Anthers 

 two-celled and parallel. 



Fruits. — Hemispherical to sub-cylindrical in shape, or more or less conoid by mutual pressure. 

 Over J inch in diameter. The rim truncate and well-marked, the tips of the valves flush with the rim, or 

 scarcely exceeding the rim. The fruit smooth or slightly angled. Valves in 3's, 4's, and 5's as seen. 



Species-name in honour of Albert Ernest Kitson, F.G.S., geological surveyor in the service of the 

 Victorian Government, who has, at the instigation of Mr. Howitt, given much attention to this eucalypt. 



Mr. Frederick Chapman, of the National Museum, Melbourne, obligingly points 

 out that the name Eucalyptus Kitsoni is preoccupied by Mr. Henry Deane (Rec. Geol. 

 Surv. Vict., Vol. i, pt. i, p. 25, pi. iv, figs. 5-7) for a fossil species from Berwick, 

 Victoria. I, therefore, suggest alteration to Kitsoniana. 



* As the above description was my own, I received a good deal of friendly criticism at the time through the 

 absence of my name. I now conjoin my name with that of the late Mr. Luehmann. 



t Vol. xvii, p. 81 (6th September, 1901). J Trans. Roy. Soc. Vict., 1S90, p. 101 ■ E. Gunnii [6]). 



