227 



IX. E. amygdalina Labill. 



This species has already been dealt with in Part VI of the present work, but as 

 E. radiata Sieb., E. numerosa Maiden, and E. nitida Hook. f. have been carved out of it 

 as there presented, it is desirable to recapitulate what I now recognise as E. amygdalina, 

 confined, so far as we know, to Tasmania, as suggested by Messrs. Baker and Smith. 



Labillardiere's brief Latin description will be found on page 150, Part VI, of 

 the present work. 



Mr. L. Rodway, in Proc. Roy. Soc. Tas., p. 12 (1917), has described it as 

 follows : — 



Black Peppermint. Usually a small tree, but often remaining only of the dimensions of a shrub. 

 Slow growing, and on good land readily smothered by more robust competitors. The leaves arc long, 

 narrow, straight, or slightly unequal-sided, usually under one centimetre in diameter; substance thick, 

 surface often shining, veins few and not widely diverging. Flowers about seven to nine in the umbel, 

 clavate in bud, with a very short, nearly flat operculum. The fruit is almost hemispheric, tapering at the 

 base into a short stalk ; the orifice is usually flat or convex, not at all or but slightly eorstricted, valves not 

 protruding, rim broad, 4 to 6 millimetres diameter. The bark is fibrous and persistent in the typical trer., 

 but is very variable, leaving no clear line of demarcation between Black and White Peppermints {E. linearis). 



The juvenile leaves of Black Peppermint are opposite, sessile, linear, and more or lo3J rough, with 

 glands. The timber of all the Peppermints is very durable. 



It is very interesting to us dwellers on the mainland to learn this about the 

 durability of the timber of the Peppermints. It is an illustration of the fact that we 

 have yet to work out the optima of certain timbers which have extensive range. 



SYNONYMS. 



The following synonyms quoted in Part VI, page 150, referring to plants of 

 Tasmanian origin, probably refer to E. amygdalina. We require evidence before 

 referring others. 



1. E. salicifolia Cav. 



2. E. angustifolia R.Br. 



3. E. gracilis Miq., non F.v.M. 



4. E. tenuiramis Miq. 



RANGE. 



So far as we know at present, this species is confined to Tasmania. It is very 

 widely diffused in that island. 



