70 NATIVE FLOWERS OF VICTORIA. 
red-gums, two or three blue-gums, several pepper- 
mints and stringybarks, mountain-asb, and ironbarks, 
while the terms, box and hickory, are applied to trees 
of other genera besides Eucalyptus. This is in a 
way unfortunate, especially where timbers are ordered 
commercially on the authority of their common names, 
for it frequently happens that, when two timbers own 
the same common name in different localities, one is 
much inferior to the other. Thus an inferior blue- 
gum might be supplied where the superior blue-gum 
is wished for. 
There is a certain classification for common names, 
which is more or less elastic and sometimes over- 
lapping. The term gum-tree originally referred to 
any eucalypt, but it seems now to refer to those 
which have a more or less smooth and shining bark, 
which fiakes or peels off in large sections. The timber 
is generally less close-grained in the texture than 
the box eucalypts. Typical examples of this section 
are the red-gum of the river fiats. Eucalyptus rostrata, 
and the blue-gum of the mountain valleys. Eucalyp- 
tus globulus. The box-trees have a closer and cross- 
grained timber, and the bark is rough, hard, and 
scaly, and finely fibrous. The honey-eucalypt, or 
yellow-box. Eucalyptus melliodora, is an example 
of this class. Then, sometimes trees possess united 
“ gum ” and “ box ” characteristics, and thus one 
of our grey-box trees. Eucalyptus hemiphloia, is 
called in some districts the gum-topped box, and 
Eucalyptus odorata is sometimes known as the gum- 
box. 
