384 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW”. 
objects in nature, only bears flowers towards its ummit. The trunk 
is suitable for purposes of naval construction, and would serve 
for masts, though not so light and elastic as that of the pine. We 
were obliged to fell one of them in order to procure the flowers. 
The sun was then very hot, and the sap rose to the surface 
abundantly. This handsome tree, of the myrtle tribe, has a 
thin bark; the branches curl a little in shooting upwards and, 
have alternate leaves, slightly curved. The bark, the leaves, and 
the fruit are aromatic, and might be substituted for those of 
other trees hitherto supplied by the Molucca islands.” He 
named the tree, then known only as the Blue Gum Tree, Euca- 
lyptus globulus , svkoXvittos (meaning, in Greek, well hidden), 
from the shape of the calyx ; and globulus , (Lat., a button), from 
the likeness of its fruit to a coat-button. 
When we consider the stately height of the Eucalyptus we 
need not wonder that it attracted Labillardiere’s attention. 
Specimens have been seen lofty enough to tower over Stras- 
burg Cathedral and cast a shadow on the Pyramid of Cheops ! 
Visitors to Kew, perhaps, seldom pause to study the tall, 
slender, bluish-green trees so conspicuous in one of the glass 
houses, or imagine the important part they are destined to per- 
form in the history of the world. To see them in full glory we 
must visit Tasmania, where these giants of the forest world 
surpass in height the towering Wellingtonias of California ; but 
along the coast of the Riviera, in Spain, in South Africa, and 
in Algeria they cannot fail to attract the attention of travellers. 
In England very few experiments have been successful, though 
occasionally, as in gardens at Dulwich Common, are seen flourish- 
ing young trees of a year’s growth already a yard in height. This 
is to be accounted for by the mildness of the late winter season. 
When planted in glass houses they spring up with such rapidity 
that none are lofty enough to hold them, and every year they 
have to be lopped, to the great detriment of their general ap- 
pearance. Opinions vary much as to the beauty of the Eucalyptus. 
Whilst some writers enthusiastically extol it, as one of the most 
conspicuous ornaments of the vegetable world, others consider it 
as acceptable only on utilitarian grounds, and having no claim 
whatever to comeliness, much less grace. A mean is to be drawn 
between these two views, the Eucalyptus having certainly out- 
ward attractions, though in far inferior degree to the elm, the 
oak, and the birch. The flowers of some species are particularly 
lovely and the seed-vessel very curious. 
Madame Bodichon, writing in the Pall Mall Gazette , thus 
describes a young Algerian -Australian Eucalyptus forest visited 
in 1874: “ On M. Trottier’s estate at Hussein Dey we walked 
under tall trees on an average fifty feet high, which, seven years 
ago, were planted with seeds not so big as a mustard-seed. This 
