408 



CCVII. E. patellarls F.v.M. 



Teee of 30-40 feet high, branching at 20 feet from the ground, with a trunk 18 inches 

 in diameter at 3 feet from the ground. (C. E. F. Allen, 683a.) 



" Bark dirty grey, wrinkled and cracked, persistent on the trunk and branches " 

 (see Part XXXIX, p. 257, translation of original). " Grey, rough, cracked perpen- 

 dicularly, an old tree." (Allen, 683a.) 



Specimens sent by Mr. C. E. F. Allen show bark which is twisted or curly, flaky- 

 fibrous and dark in colour, weathering grey. (I have no doubt that it is of the same 

 texture as described by Mueller; the greyness is a matter of weathering.) It is not 

 a thick bark, and a typical Box-bark, such as E. bicolor, E. microtheca. 



Timber deep red, drying to reddish-brown, very heavy, coarse fibred, very curly 

 and more or less interlocked, breaking off into tkinnish pieces. 



Mature leaves rather thick, lustre rather dull, petiolate, linear-lanceolate' 

 slightly falcate (say from 1 to 1-5 dm. long, with an average width of 1 to 1-5 cm.), 

 venation fine and obscure, the lateral veins making an angle of 30 to 35 degrees with 

 the midrib ; intramarginal vein close to the edge. 



Juvenile leaves. — I have not seen the juvenile leaves in the earliest state, but 

 in the intermediate stage only. They are very thin, narrow-lanceolate to acuminate, 

 shortly petiolate, 5-12 inches long, veins moderately distinct, forming an angle of 

 30-35 deg. with the midrib. Mataranka Station, Northern Territory, C. E. F. Allen, 

 No. 731. Mr. Allen states that the suckers are very hard to find. It is one of those 

 species which pass quickly from the juvenile to the adult age, and therefore the juvenile 

 leaves are not striking or persistent on young or old plants. Mr. Allen forwarded 

 fruiting specimens with the fruits 5-6 in the umbel, which are almost identical with the 

 type. 



Illustrations.— See figs, la-d, Plate 263. Narrower leaves have been figured 

 at fig. 7a, Plate 263 (C.E.F. Allen, 683). But we still do not know the juvenile 

 leaves of this species, and when we get the inflorescence, with plump buds, showing 

 anthers, we shall be able to state its position. 



RANGE. 



The type came from the dry banks of the Roper River, Northern Territory. 

 It has since been found at Mataranka Station, Roper River (C. E. F. Allen, No. 683), 

 and near the junction of the Waterhouse and Roper Rivers, on red sandy loam (Allen, 



