DARWINIAS OF PORT JACKSON AND THEIR ESSENTIAL OILS. 163 



On the DARWINIAS of PORT JACKSON and their 

 ESSENTIAL OILS. 



By R. T. Baker, f.l.s., Curator, and H. G. Smith, f.c.s., Assist. 

 Curator, Technological Museum, Sydney. 



[Read before the Royal Society of N. 8. Wales, December 6, 1899.'] 



Summary of Contents. 



(a) Botany of Species. 



(b) Chemistry of the Oils. 



(c) Possibilities of Cultivation. 



(a) Botany of Species. 

 The genus Darwinia was established by A. Rudge in 1817 in 

 the Transactions of the Linnean Society, Vol. xi., 299, on speci- 

 mens collected in the neighbourhood of Port Jackson by Robert 

 Brown. It was named in honour of Erasmus Darwin, M.D., of 

 Lichfield, author of several botanical works. The first species 

 described was D . fascicular is. 



Although the genus was founded originally from eastern species 

 it might almost be said to be purely West Australian, as over 

 thirty species are recorded from that colony, whilst only one 

 occurs in Queensland, two in South Australia, two from Victoria, 

 and three from New South Wales. 



Darwinia fascicular is, Rudge (B. Fl. in. 13.) is a virgate shrub, 

 varying in size in different localities, about five feet being the 

 maximum height in the coast form. The mountain variety rarely 

 exceeds two feet. The leaves are slender, numerous and crowded, 

 and vary in length from four to eight lines. The flowers although 

 small are attractive, being sometimes all white, or pink and white. 



It occurs on sandy soil mostly, and covers many hundred acres 

 of ground between Botany, La Perouse, and the coast. It has 

 been found north of Manly and also on the Blue Mountains at 

 King's Tableland, Wentworth, and Lawson. 



