SOME IRONWARES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 411 



separate them under distinct specific names, as allowing 

 such a variety of timbers to pass under one name would only 

 reflect on a scientific classification, certainly on an economic 

 one. Following up this clue it was found that the trees in 

 addition to having distinct timbers, differed also in variation 

 of fruits, leaves and bark. 



The trouble seems to have started even from the first 

 knowledge of this group of trees; for some of the earliest 

 Eucalyptologists bracketed together species which now are 

 regarded as quite distinct (nem. con.); thus Dr. Woolls, 

 1867, in a contribution to the Genus Eucalyptus, "Flora of 

 Australia," p. 242, states : — E. paniculata and E. crebra — 

 are mere varieties of the White Ironbark, — "I feel no 

 hesitation in uniting jEJ. paniculata and E. crebra as one 

 species, although there is an occasional difference in the 

 quality of the wood." To-day, with more data at our dis- 

 posal, every systematist regards these as quite distinct, 

 morphologically, xylologically and chemically. For the 

 "occasional difference in the quality of the wood" we would 

 now, from our increased knowledge, state distinct differ- 

 ences. 



These statements necessarily do not carry too great a 

 weight in the light of modern research, — we having greater 

 facilities for investigation than obtained in Dr. Woolls* 

 time, E. crebra has a red timber and is never known as 

 "White Ironbark," whilst E. paniculata as placed system- 

 atically in the past had various coloured woods ascribed to 

 it, and in this connection the following is of interest: — 



"1. E. paniculata, varies in the colour of the wood from white 

 to red, and, therefore, is sometimes called "White," and sometimes 

 "Red Ironbark," whilst, on the Blue Mountains, the pale variety 

 has the name of "Brush Ironbark." Although this tree appears 

 in the interior in a stunted form, it rises in the Counties of Cum- 

 berland and Camden to the "height of 120 feet, and the bark is 



