194 



Dr. Joseph's son, Dr. T. L. Bancroft, wrote me as follows in July, 1909, from 



Stannary Hills, North Queensland : — 



" Bentham's E. tesselaris var. Dallachiana is net at present in flower ; I found it hard to preserve the 

 flowers ; they shake to pieces so readily. 



" E. tesselaris I know well ; it occurs here also, but tin species under consideration is a totally different 

 species. The leaves are very large and twisted, in the saplings more especially ; some few leaves arc 

 enormous. The largest trees are about 50 feet high and 1 foot in diameter. The bark is white or greyish, 

 very like E. tereticornis, our Blue Gum. Th?rc is no rough bark as in E. tesselaris." 



The tree is common in northern Queensland, where it is called " Desert Gum," 

 " Cabbage Gum," or " Pudding wood." 



There is no doubt that it is an error to keep it under E. tesselaris, but I am not 

 satisfied that it is a distinct species. It is, in my opinion, an extreme form or variety 

 of E. clavigera, A. Cunn., with narrow lanceolate leaves. I take Bentham's description 

 of E. tesselaris var. Dallachiana as typical for my E. clavigera var. Dallachiana: — 



;< Veins of the leaves more oblique, the intramarginal one not so close to the 

 edge, the cluster of umbels so dense as to be reduced almost to a sessile head." 

 (B. Fl. hi, 251). 



It seems ve'ry different at first sight to E. clavigera A. Cunn., of north-western 

 Australia, but I have specimens which seem to absolutely connect the two forms. The 

 timber of E. clavigera is deep brown and abhorrent to white ants at Darwin; the timber 

 of our " Cabbage Gum" or " Pudding- wood " is similarly durable, much more so than 

 that of the Moreton Bay Ash {E. tesselaris). (Maiden in Proc. Roy. Soc. N.S.W. XLVII, 

 77, 1913). 



RANGE. 



The type comes from Papua, as we have already seen. It also occurs in the 



tropical parts of the mainland, from Western Australia to Queensland. In Queensland 



it extends further south. 



Western Australia . 



I refer to this species specimens from Careening and Vansittart Bays, North 

 West Coast, Allan Cunningham (B. Fl. hi, 251, under E. tesselaris. I have a specimen 

 presented by Kew). 



Mr. W. V. Fitzgerald gives the following account of this species under the name 



of E. tesselaris : — 



"Careening and Vansittart Bays (A. Cunn.) May and Lcnnard Rivers; near Derby, at Goody 

 Goody; Cygnet Bay; near Wyndham (W.V.F.). 



"Tree to 60 feet high ; trunk to 30 feet, diameter 1 1-2 feel ; bark greyish, persistent and tes? elated 

 for a short distance up from the butt, and thence white and smooth, but oftencr smooth and white almost 

 to tha ground, and giving off a white colouration when touched ; timber pale-coloured (this only refers to 

 the sap-wood — J.H.M.), and very brittle; branches often pendulous; filaments white. 



" A ' Cabbage Gum," a ' River Gum ' of Kimberley. In good soil on the banks of watercourses 

 or in moist sandy spots, usually overlaying clay slates or sandstone." 



