66 NATIVE FLOWERS OF VICTORIA. 
ment and to good soil. Two seedlings of this variety 
were planted at Heidelberg, one in poor and dry soil 
and the other in rich soil, well-watered. At the end 
of the four years, the former was a poor specimen 
about six feet high, while the latter was a beautifuUy- 
formed tree, fully twenty feet high. This is a useful 
species too, for its timber is one of the hardest and 
most durable, and very much resembles that of the 
red gum. Eucalyptus rostrata. 
The red gum is only suitable for growing in park 
lands and other large areas; and there it succeeds 
best in the moister parts. Except under forest con- 
ditions, it is neither straight nor tall; but it assumes 
an irregular spreading habit, and thus it is one of 
our truly picturesque gum trees. With strong, 
variously coloured trunk, with sprawling, spreading 
and scattered limbs, the weaker ones being somewhat 
drooping and pendant, this Eucalypt, when mature, is 
one of the typical old gums that are a feature of our 
Australian landscapes. 
Another very ornamental tree is the honey-eucalypt. 
Eucalyptus melliodora, which is commonly knows as 
“ Yellow-box.” This species is not so regular in 
growth as some other eucalypts ; yet its open, spread- 
ing, and often bent and drooping limbs, its blotched 
and many-coloured bark, particularly in the spring- 
time, all combine to form a very pleasing picture, 
particularly when the tree is growing in open or 
park lands. Like a large number of Eucalj'pts, this 
species generally takes two years to bring its flowers 
to maturity, hence it can be relied upon to produce 
a good crop of blossoms only once in two years. But 
