DESCRIPTION. 



CCXLIII. E. perfoliata R. Brown. 



In Bentham's "Flora Australiensis," iii, 253 (186G). 



Following is the original description : — 



A large shrub of 10 feet or more (A. Cunningham). Leaves opposite, connate, 6 to 8 inches long 

 and 3 to 4 inches broad, very obtuse, glaucous, with numerous parallel transverse veins. Flowers large, 

 sessile in heads of four to six, on terete peduncles, forming a corymbose terminal panicle. Calyx-tube 

 thick, .broadly turbinate, smooth or nearly so, 7 to 8 lines long and as much in diameter. Operculum not 

 seen. Stamens above \ inch long, inflected in the bud ; anthers small, ovate-oblong, with parallel distinct 

 cells. Fruit ureeolate, \\ inch long and above 1 inch diameter, smooth, the rim concave, the capsule sunk. 

 Seeds not seen. 



It will be observed from the figures that the operculum is shorter than the calyx- 

 tube ; it is slightly conoid, but the process of drying accentuates its pointed character. 



The anthers are certainly small (see fig. 2c, Plate 180) for a member of the 

 Corymbosae, and will be drawn attention to when anthers are treated of collectively, 

 and also when the- affinities of the Corymbosae are dealt with. 



W. V. Fitzgerald (MSS.) adds the following information : — 



Tree from 20-40 feet ; trunk, very crooked and frequently piped, to 15 feet, diameter 1 foot ; 

 bark persistent on stem and branches, dark-grey, rough, lamellar, and longitudinally fissured ; timber very 

 dark-red, tough and hard ; filaments white to pale yellow ; fertile seeds terminating in a long membranous 

 appendage. 



If Mr. Fitzgerald has made no mistake in his notes, it will be observed that the 

 species attains the height of a medium-sized tree. 



RANGE. 



It is confined to Western Australia (the tropical north-west) so far as we know 

 at present. 



Bentham (original description) quotes it from '"' Barren Hills, Rae's River 

 (should be Roe's), North West Coast, A. Cunningham." On the specimen in the Kew 

 Herbarium are the following notes : " Metrosideros, Roe's River, A. Cunningham," 

 and "Roe's River, 238/1820, Sept., N.-W. Australia," A. Cunningham, which means 

 that it was collected on Captain P. P. King's Expedition, and that it was specimen 

 No. 238, collected in September, 1820. 



