158 H. G. SMITH. 



THE ESSENTIAL OIL OP EUCALYPTUS SMITHII 

 FROM VARIOUS FORMS OF GROWTH. 



By Henry G. Smith, f.c.s. 



With Plates XIII to XXIII. 



[Bead before the Royal Society of N. 8. Wales, August 4, 1915.] 



This species was first described by my colleague, Mr. R. T. 

 Baker, f.l.s., in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of 

 New South Wales, in 1899. It was more fully dealt with 

 in our work, "A research on the Eucalypts and their 

 essential oils," Sydney, 1902, p. 107. Since that time this 

 species has been recorded from many localities in southern 

 New South Wales, reaching as far north as Hill Top. As 

 it occurs also in Victoria, the range is somewhat extensive. 

 Under favourable conditions it grows to a large tree, but as 

 its chief economic product is the essential oil from the 

 leaves, its size is more a disadvantage than otherwise, 

 particularly as the timber is of indifferent quality. It will 

 be shown later, that the difficulty due to size may be over- 

 come and the trees grown in a shrubby form, thus making 

 the leaves more readily accessible for oil distillation. 



The time is rapidly approaching when it will be con- 

 sidered advisable, and found to be profitable, to cultivate 

 or reafforest with the best species for the required kinds 

 of essential oils obtainable from the members of this great 

 genus. The time seems opportune, therefore, to direct 

 attention to the advantages which Eucalyptus Smithii 

 offers for cultivation. It produces, perhaps, the best cineol- 

 pinene Eucalyptus oil obtainable from any species. 



I am indebted to my colleague Mr. R. T. Baker, the 

 Curator of the Technological Museum, for botanical* assist- 





