139 



DESCRIPTION. 



CCLIV. E. tetrodonta F.v.M. 



In Journ. Linn. Soc., iii, 97 (1859). 

 Following is a translation of the original : — 



A tree with angular branchlets, leaves opposite, falcate-lanceolate, gradually acuminate, moderately 

 petiolate, opaque, indistinctly penniveined, peripheral vein rather close to the margin, umbels axillary, 

 terminal, solitary, bibracteate, three-flowered firacts slowly falling off, rather large, the angled peduncle the 

 same length as the petiole, calyx sub-campanulate, quadridentate, gradually narrowed into a compressed 

 pedicel which is barely the same length as the tube, teeth deltoid, operculum hemispherical, and the tube 

 and spreading teeth twice as long as the operculum. 



In woody elevated less fertile tracts everywhere in Anthem's Land. (At Port Essington, Armstrong, 

 and on the North Coast, A. Cunningham in herb. Hook.) Flowering in August and September. 



A medium-sized tree with a straight slender trunk, with a dirty grey fibrous bark persisting all over. 

 With bark of" Stringybark trees." Branchlets reddish, rigid. Leaves 3-6 inches long, i-li inches broad, 

 peduncles 3-4 lines long, bearing at the apices two cymbiform, lanceolate, obtuse, acuminate bracts, about 



3 lines long, deciduous. The tube of the calyx with the teeth, 4-5 lines long. Operculum coriaceous, obtuse, 

 opaque, greenish. A species especially remarkable for the toothed calyx, showing transit to Angophora. 



Bentham (B.F1. iii, 260) then described it in the following words : — 



A tree, with a whitish, fibrous, persistent bark (F. Mueller). Leaves opposite or alternate, Jong- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, often falcate and above 6 inches long, coriaceous, but the numerous somewhat 

 oblique veins prominent, the intramarginal one near the edge. Peduncles axillary or two or three together 

 at the ends of the branches, short and thick but not dilated, each bearing three or very rarely five rather 

 large flowers, on thick angular or flattened pedicels of 2 to 4 lines. Calyx-tube obconical or turbinate, 3 to 



4 lines long, wtih four rounded very obtuse teeth, slightly prominent on the bud. Operculum hemispherical 

 or nearly globular, smooth. Stamens very numerous, the longest attaining 5 or 6 lines, not distinctly 

 arranged in clusters ; anthers oblong, with parallel cells opening longitudinally. Ovary flat-topped. Fruit 

 oblong-cylindrical, I to f inch long, 4 to 6 lines diameter, not contracted at the orifice, the rim narrow but 

 forming an acutely prominent ring, the capsule sunk, usually three-celled. 



Mueller subsequently redescribed it and figured it in " Eucalyptographia. " 



In this work he speaks of it as " not tall " and " stem rather slender," and in 

 the original description as a " meduim-sized tree." It will be observed that, as regards 

 the Northern Territory, it is described as . " exceedingly well developed and reaching 

 very large size, 70 or 80 feet or more and 3 feet or more in diameter." It is evidently 

 one of the most important timber trees of the tropics, and it is desirable that we should 

 know more of its distribution and abundance. 



Mr. W. V. Fitzgerald (MSS.), speaking of Kimberley, says : " Tree of 40-50 feet, 

 trunk to 25 feet, diameter 1-1| feet; bark persistent on stem and branches, greyish, 

 fairly rough, and very stringy ; timber pale, fissile, moderately hard ; filaments yellowish- 

 white." 



