XXIX. E. apieulata Baker and Smith. 



Syn. E. stricta yar. rigida, Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., xxii, 710 (1897), with a fig. (fig, 

 189, Plate 31). See Part IX, p. 286, and also Synonyms quoted. 



RANGE. 



Wentworth Falls, N.S.W. (in fruit, Henry Deane, about 1886); Leura (shrub 

 3-5 feet. December. 1907): Wentworth Falls (Dr. E. C. Cliisholm, January and 

 February. 1923). Hitherto the species has only been recorded from a southern locality 

 (Berrima), while Wentworth Falls and Leura are westerly (Blue Mountains). Mittagong 

 (see under Affinities) is at no great distance from Berrima. I expect to see the species 

 from various localities connecting the southern and western records. 



AFFINITIES. 



1. With E. stricta Sieb. 



In " Some Eucalypts about Mittagong " (Aust. Nat. v, 98, 1923), Mr. D. W. C. 

 Shiress refers to '* . . . . a single tree with every appearance of E. stricta, a Gum 

 with scribbly bark, just before the turn off to Joadja." Mr. W. F. Blakely has since 

 visited the district, in company with Mr. Shiress, and has brought back additional 

 specimens. He says : — 



It is a slender tree 20 to 30 feet high and about 9 inches in diameter at 2 feet from the ground, 

 growing in association with E. radiata and E. maculosa. Viewed from a short distance, it has the general 

 appearance of a young sapling of E. altior, i.e., a smooth powdery white-barked Gum, with the old bark 

 slightly adherent at the base in long broad strips. It has, however, the narrow rigid leaves of E. stricta, and 

 when this character is taken into consideratioij the thought of connecting it with E. altior (other than in 

 the nature of the bark) is dismissed from the mind, and one wonders whether it is, after all, only a white- 

 barked form of E. stricta. This idea is also dispensed with, for not more than 150 yards away, fringing 

 Joadja Creek, E. stricta is seen in profusion, and when a comparison is made, both species of E. stricta and 

 E. apieulata are found to be very dissimilar in habit and bark, and to some extent in the leaves. A branch, 

 3 inches in diameter, was cut and showed a white timber throughout. 



Some of these specimens show the extreme difficulty, and perhaps impossibility, 

 of separating E. apieulata from E. stricta, except perhaps as a variety, owing to the 

 slightly greater width of the leaves in the Blue Mountains form. I have already (this 

 work, Part IX, p. 286) alluded to the difficulty of separating the two species. But the 

 Mittagong specimens indicate that E. apieulata and E. stricta may be a small-sized 

 tree and a tall shrub respectively in the same locality. At the same time, e.g., 

 Blackheath. I have seen E. stricta exceptionally attain the size of a small tree. The 

 broken country in the vicinity of the Berrima Coal Mine (type locality of E. apieulata) 

 should also be searched for the tree-form of E. apieulata, for only bushy shiubs have 

 been found there hitherto. The relations of E. apieulata and E. stricta are not yet 

 settled. 



