33 



DESCRIPTION. 



CLXII. E. exserta F.v.M. 



In Joum. Linn. Soc. iii, 85 (1859). 



Following is a translation : — 



A tree with thin, angular branchlets, leaves alternate, narrow-lanceolate, elongated, slightly curved, 

 moderately petiolate, acuminate, opaque, covered with clear dots, faintly penni-veined, peripheral vein 

 distant from the margin, with axillary and lateral umbels, solitary, 3-7 flowered, the petiole longer than the 

 angular paduncle, the calyx shortly pedicellate, the operculum conical and somewhat obtuse, and twice 

 as long as the hemispherical and indistinctly ribbed calyx-tube ; capsule nearly globular, 3-5 celled, half 

 protruding from (semisupera)* the calyx -tube, valves deeply exsert, seeds winged. 



Habitat in the less fertile meadows near the Burnett Eiver (Queensland). Flowering in January 

 and February. 



A small tree or of medium height, the bark persistent on the trunk and branches, ashy-brown, 

 wrinkled and scaly, rough and fissured outside the falling in fragments,' sub-fibrous on the inner. Leaves 

 3-6 inches long, 4-8 lines broad. Peduncles 3-5 lines long. Capsule measuring about three lines, with 

 short deltoid valves arising above the margin of the calyx. The fruit therefore is not dissimilar to that of 

 E. rostrata.' Seeds angular, faintly wrinkled, the fertile ones blackish. While it stands, as it were, midway 

 between the Eucalyptus trees known as " Bloodwood " and " Stringybark " as regards the structure of 

 the bark, it is most similar, in particular points to E. fibrosa. 



It was described in English by Bentham (B. Fl. iii, 241), but Mueller himself, in 

 the " Eucalyptographia " sank it under E. rostrata. 



I published a preliminary note on the species in my Forest Flora of New South 

 Wales, vol. ii p. 11. 



A prominent character is the very broad sloping rim of the fruit, and its very 

 exserted valves, like cusps. 



It has in young trees a thin sub-fibrous, harsh, closely appressed bark which is 

 known by most Australians (in eastern Australia at any rate) as " Peppermint." This 

 kind of bark was originally associated with a Sydney tree whose leaves exhaled a 

 peppermint odour when crushed in the warm hand, and, strange to say, this class of bark 

 confers the name of Peppermint on other trees, irrespective of the odour of the leaves. 



* As to the meaning of this word, the reader is invited to contemplate the fruits at fig. 7a plate 132, which arc 

 characteristic. I will discuss the subject further in dealing with " The Rim in Eucalyptus fruits," in part ii of the present 

 work. 



Meantime ray readera may be reminded that the capsule, which is actuate to the persistent calyx-tube, is, in 

 Eucalyptus, sunk to varying degrees in the calyx-tube. Thus it may be wholly sunk, or the tips of the capsule- valves may 

 protrude more or le3S beyond the level of the top of the calyx-tube. 



In E. exserta the unusually broad, belted rim, is part of the capsule — the middle third, let us say. The lowest third 

 of the capsule is sunk in the calyx-tube, and the top-third consists of the exserted valves. 



I have divided the capsule into thirds for clearness, but the proportions vary. 



In the type specimen " capsula semisupera" (supera=that which is above or higher) means one in which the 

 capsule, irrespective of the valves, protudes for about half its length (out of the calyx-tube). It is understood that a 

 "half'' is an approximation, just as a " third" is. The specific name exserta probably was intended by the author not 

 merely to refer to the protrusion of the valves, which is the usual meaning of the word " exsert " in Eucalyptus 

 descriptions, but to the prrtrr«'on or exsertion separately (or in addition to the valves) of the belted portion of the calyx 

 beyond the calyx-tube. 



B 



