NOTES ON EUCALYPTUS. 79 



"Not often used in southern Queensland, but extensively for 

 buildings, fences, etc., in the north, where this kind of timber is 

 better, being very tough and durable." 



Dr. Joseph's sod, Dr. T. L. Bancroft, wrote me as follows 

 in July 1909, from Stannary Hills, North Queensland : 



"Bentham's E. tesselaris var. Dallachiana is not at present in 

 flower; I found it hard to preserve the flowers; they shake to 

 pieces so readily. 



"M. tesselaris I know well; it occurs here also, but the species 

 under consideration is a totally different species. The leaves are 

 very large and twisted, in the saplings more especially; some few 

 leaves are enormous. The largest trees are about fifty feet high 

 and one foot in diameter. The bark is white or greyish, very like 

 E. tereticornis, our Blue Gum. There is no rough bark as in E. 

 tesselaris." 



The tree is common in northern Qeensland, where it is 

 called "Desert Gum," "Cabbage Gum" or "Pudding wood." 



There is no doubt that it is an error to keep it under 

 E. tesselaris, but I am not satisfied that it is a distinct 

 species. It is, in my opinion, an extreme form or variety 

 of E. clavigera, A. Cunn., with narrow lanceolate leaves. I 

 take Bentham's description of E. tesselaris var. Dallachiana 

 as typical for my E. clavigera var. Dallachiana : 



"Veins of the leaves more oblique, the intramarginal one not 

 so close to the edge, the cluster of umbels so dense as to be reduced 

 almost to a sessile head." (B. PI. iii, 251.) 



It seems very different at first sight to E. clavigera, A. 

 Cunn., of north western Australia, but I have specimens 

 which seem to absolutely connect the two forms. The 

 timber of E. clavigera is deep brown and abhorrent to 

 white ants at Darwin; the timber of our "Cabbage Gum" 

 or "Pudding wood" is similarly durable, much more so 

 than that of the Moreton Bay Ash (E. tesselaris). 



