118 



DESCRIPTION. 



CLX XVIII. E. platypus Hooker. 



In Hooker's Icones, t. 849 (1852). 



Following is a translation of the original : — 



Very glabrous, branches terete. 



Leaves alternate, obcordate, thickly coriaceous, rifdd, shiny, imperforate, subsinuate, narrowed 

 into a short, somewhat twisted petiole. 



Peduncle axillary, of the length of the leaves, flattened and two-edged, very broad, woody, 

 coriaceous, three to five flowered at the apex. 



Operculum cylindrico-conicsl, elongated-obtuse. 



Calyx turbinate. 



Stamens numerous, sulphur coloured, longer than the calyx. 



The remainder of the description is in English, as follows : — 

 Hal). South.- Western Australia, near King George's Sound, Drummond (No. 183). 



A very remarkable species of Eucalyptus, easily distinguished in this extensive and difficult genus. 

 Euc. Preissiann Schauer has a similar broad and ancipitate peduncle, but that is placed in the division 

 Oppositifoliae, and has the leaves opposite or subalternate, elliptical, oblong or subparabolic, pellucido- 

 punctate, the base rounded, and the petiole as long as the peduncle — characters much at variance with our 

 plant. 



Bentham's description follows : — 



A tree attaining 30 feet, with a smooth bark (Maxwell). 



Leaves very broadly ovate or orbicular, often coarsely crenate, mostly under 2 inches long, very 

 thick, smooth and shining, the oblique veins scarcely visibh . 



Peduncles axillary, thick and hard but flit, and often J to J in. broad, erect or recurved, mostly 

 above 1 in. long, each bearing about three to seven flowers. 



Calj'X-tube usually 3 to 4 lines long, thick, but narrow-turbinate, smooth and nearly terete, or 

 with two, three, or sometimes four more or less prominent ribs or angles, and generally tapering into a 

 very short, thick, angular or flattened pedicel. 



Operculum tapering upwards, longer and oftener narrower than the calyx-tube. 



Stamens erect iu the bud as in E. cornuta. the outer oDes attaining 7 fo 8 lines; anthers ovate- 

 oblong, with parallel cells opening longitudinally. 



Ovary conical in the centre, with as many raised lines as cells. 



Fruit obovoid-tiuncate or turbinate, £ to nearly J inch long and 4 to 7 lines diameter, slightly 

 contracted at the orifice, the rim rather broad, convex; the capsule somewhat sunk, but the valves often 

 acuminate by the split base of the style, with the points protruding. 



