59 



DESCRIPTION. 



CLXVII. E. Howittiana F.v.M. 



In Wing's Southern Science Record, ii, 171 (August, 1882). 



Following is the original : — 



Branchlets angular. 



Leaves on stalks of moderate length, scattered, ovate or elongate -lance olar, dark-green above, 

 much paler beneath, of rather rigid consistence ; their lateral veins pinnately spreading, numerous, very 

 subtle, the circumferential vein at a sbght distance from the edge ; oil-pores concealed. 



Panicles axillary and terminal, their ultimate branchlets rather stout, short, angular, bearing 

 generally 3-6 flowers without any separate stalklets. 



Fruits very small, ovate-globular, truncated, quite smooth, somewhat shining, distinctly contracted 

 towards the narrow terminal margin; valves 3-4, minute, almost deltoid, inserted near the orifice. 



Sterile Seeds extremely short. 



Fertile seeds very small, almost ovate, neither considerably angular nor provided with any 

 membranous appendage 



Flowers unknown. 



A little later, Mueller secured flowers and he figured the species in Part 9 of the 

 ; ' Eucalyptographia " and gave some additional notes. 



The following paragraph is practically all new : — 



" A tree, attaining a height of about 100 feet, and at the basal butt a girth of 12 feet. Bark less 

 fissured than that of the so-called Box-Eucalypts, more resembling that of the Stringy-bark trees. Wood, 

 however, much like that of the former,- but its fibres not quite so interwoven, hence easier to split. Foliage 

 throwing great shade (Inspector Stafiord). Leaves 2-5 inches long, f-li inches broad, gradually pointed, 

 usually not much curved, with an oily lustre on the surface, not shining underneath ; their reticular veinlets 

 very subtle ; their stomata developed on the underside only. Panicles not very ample, from 1£ to 6 inches 

 lorig. Tube of the calyx sbghtly angular ; lid almost membranous, smooth, only about | of an inch long. 

 Filaments nearly white ; anthers very pale ; their gland inconspicuous ; their cells ellipsoid, parallel, slit 

 marginally. Style exceedingly thin, considerably extended beyond the calyx-tube. Fruits smooth, shining, 

 of hardly more than £ inch measurement, not angular." 



It was named in honour of Alfred William Howitt, the most distinguished citizen 

 Gippsland, Victoria, has produced, and who possessed a marvellous first hand knowledge 

 of various sciences, usually enumerated under the designation of Natural History, as 

 the result of his travels in Victoria. His " Eucalypts of Gippsland " in Transactions 

 of the Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. ii, p. 81 (1890) is an admirable piece of work, and 

 the present writer is proud that he enjoyed the friendship of, and received instruction 

 from Dr. Howitt for many years. 



A portrait and necrology from the pen of Professor (now Sir) Baldwin Spencer, 

 will be found in the Victorian Naturalist for April, 1908, p. 181. 



