55 



AFFINITIES. 



1. With E. rostrata Schleclit. 



E. dealbata certainly connects in foliage, buds, and to some extent in fruits, with, 

 this species. The interior blunt budded forms of E. rostrata are sometimes especially 

 difficult to separate from E*. dealbata, and that species may be proved to occur nearer to 

 the centre of Australia than is usually supposed. 



In dealing with individual specimens of E. dealbata I have oftener referred to 

 E. rostrata than to any other species, and the relations of these two will be again 

 referred to when E. rostrata is reached in Part xxxiii. 



2. With E. tereticornis Sm. 



There is undoubted affinity between E. dealbata and E. tereticornis and allied 

 forms, as examination of the plates in Part xxxi will show. E. tereticornis never flowers 

 in the broad-leaved stage, nor is it ever glaucous, as E. dealbata habitually is. Oil- 

 distillers sometimes use the leaves of E. dealbata for oil, but say there is " no oil " (not 

 literally true) in the leaves of E. tereticornis alongside. At the same time the two species 

 do not usually occur together. Speaking generally, E. dealbata belongs to the 

 comparatively short operculumed series, while E. tereticornis, E. Bancrofti, and 

 E. amplifolia have long opercula. In the species with long opercula the stamens may 

 be arranged straight ; in E. dealbata the filaments are bent. 



3. With E. viminalis Labill. 



" F. Mueller thinks it (E. dealbata) may be reducible to a variety of B. viminalis." 

 (B. PL iii, 239). 



" E. dealbata seems merely an abnormal state of E. viminalis, standing to it in 

 the same position as E. pulverulenta to E. Stuartiana, as E. Risdoni to E. amygdalina, as 

 E. melanophloia to E. crebra, and to some extent as E. cor data to E. urnigera." (Mueller 

 in " Eucalyptographia " under E. viminalis). In other words, that E. dealbata and 

 E. viminalis are geminate species. 



I cannot understand how Mueller came to adopt this view, as the two species 

 are by no means close to each other. 



E. viminalis is a very large tree of low-lying land and with pale-coloured timber ; 

 E. dealbata is a smaller tree, with usually rougher bark and with red timber. E. viminalis 

 has conspicuously narrow juvenile foliage, while E. dealbata has just the opposite. There 

 are also differences in buds and fruits. Compare Plates 117-119. 



