132 



DESCRIPTION. 



CLXXXI. E. argillacea W. V. Fitzgerald, n.sp. 



The following description is new : — 



Arborescent; branchlets, leaves and inflorescence whitish or glaucous. 



Leaves alternate or scattered, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, very obtuse or rounded at the apices 

 or shortly apiculate, stalked, rigid, the veins numerous, very fine, not much ascending, reticulate between 

 the intramarginal one very adjacent to the edge. 



Flowers pedicellate, in umbels of 4-6, usually several together, forming axillary or terminal panicles. 



Peduncles erect, terete, slender. 



Calyx-tube turbinate, gradually tapering into a pedicel shorter than itself, lid conical, conspicuously 

 umbouate, not much shorter than the tube. 



Stamens inflected in the bud, anthers small, nearly globular, dehiscing in oblong slits. 



Ovary flat, the style thick and protruding. 



Fruit obovoid. slightly constricted at the summit, the rim scarcely prominent and not thick. 



Capsule sunk, valves 4, the points sometimes shortly protruding when open. 



On clay shale, bases (if Mounts House and Clifton (W.Y.F.). Height, 25-40 feet, trunk to 15 feet, 

 diameter 9-12 inches. Bark dark grey, persistent on the trunk and limbs and semi-fibrous, approaching 

 that of a Box Eucalypt. Timber reddish to brownish, very hard and tough. Leaves 2£-3| inches long, 

 petioles \ inch. Peduncles about \ inch. Calyx-tube 2 lines diameter at the summit; stamens 2 lines; 

 filaments white; fruit 4-4J lines long. 



Affinity to E. mierotlieca, F.v.M. 

 Mr. Fitzgerald's remarks end here. 



The only specimen I have seen is from base of Mount House, Western Kimberley, 

 North West Australia (W. V. Fitzgerald, No. 962), consisting of flowering specimens, 

 together with a few old fruits, evidently gathered at the foot of the tree. 



RANGE. 



Mr. Fitzgerald, as quoted below, says that the species appears to be restricted 

 to the clay-shales of Mounts House and Clifton. In his " Kimberley Report,' 7 p. 12, 

 appears the statement. " This (E. argillacea and several species of Acacia and Grevillea) 

 clothe the shingly foot-hills and plains." These two references are the only ones known 

 to me as to range. The two mountains are (the Surveyor-General of Western Australia 

 obligingly tells me), Mount House (Munalin), Lat. 17° 6' 8"; long. 125° 44' 15"; Mount 

 Clifton, lat. 17° 17' 58"; long. 125° 52' 11". 



In the above passage the name is nomen nudum. 



