3 



first limb, others measured from 50 to 60 feet. Considered a useful timber. Grows 

 in deep gullies in the mountains." Forest Reserve 43,276, Parish Turon, County of 

 Roxburgh (District Forester A. R. Samuels). 



Northern Locality. — " Stringybark, has a rough bark on the barrel, with smooth 

 lirnbs." On the Tomalla Tablelands, Hunter River Watershed (H. L. White, of 

 Belltrees). 



AFFINITIES. 



1. With E. regnans F.v.M. 



This is the species to which it is closest allied, and I will contrast both species 

 under the headings of Bark and Fruits, the most obvious characters. (I may remark 

 that there are some differences in the seedlings, but this is not the proper place to go 

 into particulars.) 



Bark (E. regnans). — The following detailed description is from the pen of Mr. 

 Harry Hopkins, and will appeal to everyone who has travelled amongst the Big Trees 

 of Victoria. 



The amount of variation in the bark, so far as I know it in Gipps'land, is very slight. The butts of 

 large (and medium-sized) trees are usually clothed with a moderately thick coat of persistent old bark, 

 not at all " stringy," but more like the base of large Peppermints (radiata), or even White Gums (viminalis), 

 quickly tapering into a moderately rough softish bark, like that on the upper bole of most Peppermint 

 trees, which again taper (or " fine ") off into a quite smooth bark at a few feet to, say, 8 or 12 feet from the 

 ground. Above that the bark is quite smooth, whitish or tinted with green, and the old bark peels off 

 in very long narrow ribbons, which often hang loosely on the tree, fast at the upper end, sometimes at both 

 ends, and make a considerable noise in windy weather flapping against the tree trunks until they become 

 further loosened and blow off. As a rule, the tree trunks above the first 5 to 10 feet are remarkably clean. 

 The trees, where well grown, have, as a rule, small or scanty tops or heads, and there is very little loose 

 ribbony bark hanging from the branches. In the Warragul district, where, on the lands cleared of the 

 original forests, there are a good many young trees of E. regnans, growing by the roadsides or in waste 

 places, the tree develops quite differently. It usually branches at a low height from the ground, say, 

 generally 10 to 20 feet, with, proportionately, fairly large branches, and a rough scaly or flaky bark persists 

 on the bole and to the basal parts of the large branches, and the upper part is less " clean " ; a good deal 

 of the smaller " ribbons " of old bark clings to the branches, or is caught in the forks of the branches, 

 and the tree often resembles a somewhat ragged specimen of E. viminalis much more than it does the 

 noble regnans, as seen in the primeval forest. So much do the local conditions and environment alter 

 the appearance and character of a tree. 



In answer to a specific question as to any exceptional amount and character of 

 rough bark in E. regnans, I received the following reply :— " I do not know of anything 

 that could be called Stringybark regnans or anything resembling a Stringybark form 

 in E. regnans. 

 B 



