No. 233. 
Eucalyptus mbida Deane and Maiden. 
Candle-bark. 
(Family MYRTACE^.) 
Botanical description. Genus, Eucalyptus. See Part II, p. 23. 
Botanical description. Species, # rubida Deane and Maiden in Proc. Linn. 
Soc. N.R.W., xxiv, 456 (1899), with a Plate. 
Following is a description : 
Bark. Perfectly smooth for the most part, the outer layer of bark falling off in ribbons. The 
" bole and limbs very white, as if whitewashed." (A. W. Howitt, referring to Gippsland 
trees.) The name " Candle Bark " is also excellently descriptive of the appearance of the 
bark in the most southern parts of this colony and in north-eastern Victoria. 
It frequently exhibits reddish or plum-coloured patches (hence the specific name) ; 
this is a colour rarely, if ever, seen in E. viminalis. Sometimes (e.g., Adaminaby to Cooma) 
the colour of the bark, especially of the branches, may be described as pale pink. 
In the case of a species having such an extended range, it is not surprising that the 
bark shows some variation. For example, the trees about Sunny Corner show perhaps 
a rougher (more flaky) bark at the butt than is usual in many other localities, but neither 
here nor anywhere else is such rough bark ever of a fibrous character. 
Tt'm&cr. Reddish, worthless timber ; dries paler. 
Juvenile leaves. From nearly orbicular to nearly oblong, often emarginate or retuse, eventually 
taking on a lanceolate shape. The midrib usually terminating in a short and fine point. 
Strictly opposite ; sometimes stem-clasping and even more or less connate. Very 
glaucous as a general rule. 
Mature leaves. Dull green ; of similar tint on both sides ; narrow lanceolate, of thickish texture, 
and hence largely concealing the oil-dots, the intramarginal vein scarcely removed from 
the edge, the primary veins roughly transverse. Often glaucous, sometimes very much so. 
Spherical brachyscelid galls are sometimes found on the leaves. 
B ds. Ovoid, axillary ; in threes and cruciform ; sessile or with very short stalklets ; the stalks 
commonly under J inch long, round, rarely flattened, and then only towards the insertion of 
the buds. 
Operculum. Nearly hemispherical when ripe, hardly pointed ; rather shorter than the calyx ; 
conoid when less ripe. 
Stamens. All fertile and inflected in the bud, anthers ovate-oblong, with parallel distinct cells. 
Fruit. -Top-shaped; spreading at the orifice. Usually about 3 lines in diameter. Sometimes 
nearly hemispherical. Shiny or glaucous. The rim broadish and convex. Valves three 
>r in i' and "xsert <!. 
