64 NATIVE FLOWERS OF VICTORIA. 
CHAPTER Vm. 
The M5nrtle Family ; The Eucalypts. 
T he Eucalypts, or as they are commonly called, 
Gum trees, are the most common and the most 
widely distributed of aU our native trees. 
They were called gum trees many years ago, on ac- 
count of their secreting a resinous gum, which fre- 
quently exudes from the tree. They are purely 
Australian trees, as, with the exception of a few 
species which are found in some of the islands to 
the north-west of Australia, the whole of the 
Eucalyptus genus is foimd naturally only in Aus- 
tralia. 
The name Eucalyptus was suitably chosen, meaning 
weU or completely covered, as the covering which 
drops off the flower bud when the flower is opening is 
the symbol of this genus. We are most familiar with 
this covering or cap in the blue gum tree. Eucalyptus 
globulus. The blue gum is a most beautiful tree, 
with large distinctive flowers, and with a bluey-white, 
waxy covering on the young leaves. It is not a tree 
to he generally cultivated in gardens, as it does not 
live long under cultivated conditions. It natur- 
ally grows in cool and wooded valleys, hence shelter 
is its main requirement. Still, for its beautiful 
foliage, even as a young shrub, and short-lived as it 
thus may he, it forms a beautiful sight in any garden. 
This species has been planted in various towns as a 
street-avenue tree, but for this purpose it can never 
