125 : 
S.A. NAT., V/OL. XIV. 
August 31st, 1933. 
EUCALYPTS IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS, N.S.W. 
By A. D, Service. 
A short visit to the Blue Mountains in February this year 
offered an opportunity to make a survey which is summarised 
in these notes. Though necessarily incomplete in respect to the 
whole mountain area, it may be regarded as a representative 
cross-section of the Eucalyptus flora of the Eastern Slopes. The- 
total distance of the route taken between Blaxland and Mt. Vic- 
toria is about 40 miles, and the range in altitude 750 to 3500 feet. 
'Ihe general formation of the mountains is a raised plateau, 
made up of nearly horizontal beds of thet Hawkesbury Sand- 
stone (of the Triassic System), in which the streams have cut 
deep canyons with almost perpendicular sides. In these deep 
gorges, several genera of the temperate rain-forest type abound. 
Of the twenty species of Eucalyptus enumerated below, only 
one (E. vrminalis, Labill.) is commonly found’ in South Australia,, 
and one other (E. gomocalyXj Labill.) is doubtlfully recorded 
from this State. 
E. piperita, Sm., “Sydney Peppermint,” wdiich was flowering, 
and E. Sieberiana, F.vM., “Silvertop.” were the most abundant 
species. Superficially they bear a marked resemblance, both 
having clean limbs and rough bark on the trunk, but that of 
E. Sieberiana is generally harder and darker. Another Pepper- 
mint. E. radiata, Sieb., has a wide range and is particularly 
graceful. It is rarely large, but the compact nature of its narrow 
drooping foliage makes it conspicuous and ornamental. 
The true gums were represented by seven species, but they 
constitute a coraparativeh' small proportion of the forest. E. 
goniocalyx, Labill., “Mountain Cnim,” and E. altior, Deane and 
Maiden, were found only above the 2,500 ft. level, and were 
usually associated. Both grow to tall trees- with clean symme- 
trical trunks, and stand out boldly against the surrounding vege- 
tation. E. punctata, DC, “Grey Gum,” with large* ochre-colour- 
ed patches where the outer bark had fallen away, and h. Deanei,. 
Maiden, “Silky Gum,” grotv only on the lowxr slopes. The lat- 
ter. which was noted in only one locality, is a tall, handsome, 
umbrageous tree with very smooth bluish-grey bark and short, 
broad leaves, which have been aptly compared wdth those of a 
pear tree. The two “Brittle Gums,” E. micrantha, DC., and E. 
'maculosa, Baker, were well distributed and are usually stunted 
and straggling in habit. E, viminalis, Labill., was scarce and- 
often depauperate, generally multiflowered. 
