1 
No. 206. 
Stenocarpus sinuatus Endl. 
The Wheel Tree. 
(Family PROTEACE^E.) 
Botanical description. Genus, Stenocarpus. (See Part VI, p. 135.) 
Botanical description. Species, S.s'muatus Endl., Gen. PI. Suppl.iv, 88(1847). 
A tree, sometimes small and slender, sometimes attaining GO to 100 feet, glabrous or the inflor- 
escence minutely tomentose. 
Leaves petiolatc, either undivided oblong-lanceolate and 6 to 8 inches long, or pinnatifid and 
above 1 foot long, with 1 to 4 oblong lobss on each side, mostly obtuse, quite glabrous but 
reddish underneath, penniveined and minutely reticulate. 
Peduncles terminal, either 2 or more together in a general umbel, or several at some distance 
forming a short broad raceme, each peduncle '2 to 4 inches long, and bearing an umbel of 12 
to 20 bright red flowers, the pedicels about i- inch long, radiating in a single row round the 
disc-like dilated summit of the peduncle. 
Perianth tube 1 inch long or rather more, straight, tapering upwards, the limb recurved, globular, 
about 2 lines diameter. 
Ovary densely pubescent, on a glabrous stipes, with a rather thick glabrous style. 
Ovules 12 to 14. (B.F1. \, 539.) 
Endlicher's " description," loc. cit. solely consists of the following words : 
Slenocarfnm sinitatug Endl., Stenocarpus Cnnninghamii Hooker, But. Mag. t. 4263, non R.Br., 
Agnostus sinualus A. Cunningh. in London Hort. Brit. 580. Nova Hollandia orientalis, 
Moreton Bay. 
Botanical NaillC. Stenocarpus, already explained (see Part VI, p. 136) ; 
sinuatus, Latin, crooked or bent, referring to the irregular edges (comparable to 
sinuses or bays of the coast) of the leaves. It is only possible, in the drawing, to 
give a small indication of the innumerable variations of the margins of the leaves. 
Vernacular Names. Known as " Wheel tree " from the arrangement of 
the flowers, also " Fire tree," because of their brilliancy. 
The users of the latter name must not confuse this tree with the Flame-tree 
(Brachychltoii acirifolitis) Avith its numerous thimble-like scarlet flowers. This is 
also a native tree, but we must not in its turn confuse it with the Coral tree, which 
is not a native. It has scarlet pea-shaped flowers, is deciduous, and is commonly 
planted in the coastal districts for shade. Its botanical name is Erythrina indica. 
In Northern Queensland it is known as " White Silky-oak," from the palentss- 
of its timber, and the late Walter Hill, of Brisbane, called it "Tulip-tree." 
