245 



IV. THE ROOT. 



ADVENTITIOUS ROOTS. 



An illustrated article will be found in my "Forest Flora of New South Wales," 

 Part LXII, p. 64 (1918). 



Adventitious roots in E. rostrata, E. resinifera, E. rudis, E. robusta, E. tereti- 

 cornis and E. paniculata are dealt with at pages 64-67 of this article, and I beg to refer 

 my readers to the interesting information there recorded. 



(Particulars of the roots being employed as water-supply by the aborigines 

 will be referred to under " Aborigines " in a subsequent Part of this work.) 



V. EXUDATES, 



a. KINGS. 



The earliest references to the astringent exudations of our Eucalypts appear to 

 be as follows : — 



The following is the earliest I can find : — 



Dampier, W.— " A new voyage round the world, describing particularly the 

 Isthmus of America, e'c., e c, New Holland, e'c, their soil, rivers, harbours, plants, 

 fruits, animals and inhabitants." Third edition, 3 vols. (London, 1698-1709). 



Vol. I, p. 463, Notes on " Dragon Trees " (Eucalypts), exuding kino; Vol. Ill 

 contains some plates of Australian plants. 



The name Gum Tree arose because of the kino which exuded from the trunks of 

 Eucalypts. Banks noticed this exudate at Botany Bay in 1770 — 



" The soil, wherever we saw it, consisted of either swamps or light sandy soil, on which grew very 

 few species of trees, one, which was large, yielding a gum much like' Sanguis draconis. . . ." 



(Banks' Journal, edited by Hooker, p. 267.) See also p. 271. 



At p. 271 the " Endeavour " is in Bustard Bay, Queensland, where they landed, 

 and Banks says : — 



" Upon the sides of the hills were many of the trees yielding a gum like Sanguis draconis. They 

 differed, however, from those seen on the 1st of May, in having their leaves longer and hanging down like 

 those of the weeping willow. Notwithstanding that, I believe that they were of the same species. There 

 was, however, much less gum upon them. Only one tree that I saw had any, contrary to all theory, which 

 teaches that the hotter a climate is the more gums exude." (p. 271.) 



At p. 300 he points out (quite correctly) that this may be the gum found on 

 trees both by Dampier in North-western Australia (statement published in 1694), and 

 by Tasman in the modern Tasmania earlier in the same century. 



