229 



DESCRIPTION. 



L. — E. Gouldii Ward. 



In Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xxiv, p. 576, text fig. 1, 2 (1897), Kansas. 



(Through the kindness of Dr. W. A. Taylor, Chief of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture, I received a photostat of 

 these text figures, but, through my fault, too late for the present plates. J.H.M.) 



Following is the original description : — ■ 



Leaves slightly falcate, about 7 cm. long and 12 mm. wide, 2 cm. above the base, from which point 

 they diminish in both directions, being drawn out into a long point above (tip and base wanting in the only 

 specimen found). Substance of the leaf firm and thick; nervation very distinct, midrib strong, secondaries 

 about 10 on a side, rising at a very acute angle, proceeding in a zig-zag course so as to meet one another 

 and anastomose, forming elongated angular areas in two rows, the outer row smaller and bounded on 

 the outer side by a connected series of gentle arches forming a continuous nerve generally parallel to the 

 margin and less than 1 mm. distant from it. 



Of all living species of Eucalyptus, this approaches most closely in its nervation to that of 

 E. largiflorens, first described by Baron von Mueller in the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, 

 i, 24, 1854, and figured in the " Eucalyptographia," Decade V, 18S0. 



In the accompanying cut, Fig. 1 represents the fossil leaf, and Fig. 2 [figs, not reproduced. — J.H.M.] 

 is a copy of one of the leaves of approximately the same size of E. largiflorens Muell., from the plate 

 accompanying the description given in the work already referred to. The substantial identity of the 

 nervation is apparent at a glance. In describing that species in the same work, Baron von Blueller 

 devoted only two lines to the nervation as follows : — " Lateral veins extremely fine, diverging at a very 

 acute angle or not very spreading nor quite close, the circumferential vein somewhat removed from the 

 edge." This description is, of course, very inadequate, but it is well known that botanists pay scarcely 

 any attention to nervation and do not take the trouble to acquaint themselves with the proper terminology 

 of the subject. 



We thus have another link in an already long chain of evidence which goes to prove that the 

 Australian Fever Tree has had a long history, and was widely distributed over the globe in Cretaceous 

 and Tertiary time, millions of years before man made his appearance. 



Prof. E. W. Berry, in " Maryland Geological Survey, Upper Cretaceous " 

 (1916), p. 226, speaking of the Dakota Sandstone, says : — ■ 



. . . Combining all of the published work dealing with areas within the United States, that 

 for the Dominion of Canada being given in another place, results in the following lists of species : — 

 Eucalyptus dakolensis Lesquereux, Eucalyptus Geinitzi Heer, Eucalyptus Gouldii Ward. 



