302 
No. 265. 
Eucalyptus robust a Sm. 
The Swamp Mahogany. 
(Family MYRTACEyE.) 
Botanical description. Genus Eucalyptus. See Part ii, p. '23. 
Botanical description. Species robusta Smith, in " A specimen of the Botany 
of New Holland" (1793). 
Smith's original description of this species consists simply of the following 
words: "Lid conical, contracted in the middle. Umbels lateral and terminal; 
general and partial flower-stalks compressed/' But the figure he published is so good 
that no mistake can arise as to the species referred to. 
It is a fine, umbrageous tree, attaining a height of $0 to 100 feet and more, and 
a trunk diameter of 3 or 4 feet. 
Following is Bentham's description : 
Leaves ovate-lanceolate, nearly straight, or the upper ones narrower and falcate, 4 to 6 inches 
long, or sometimes more, with numerous fine but prominent parallel veins almost transverse, 
the intra-marginal one very near or close to the edge. 
Peduncles axillary or lateral, stout, angular, or flattened, often 1 inch long, each with about four 
to twelve rather large flowers, on thick angular pedicels. 
Calyx ttd>e narrow-turbinate or slightly urceolate, 3 to 4 lines long, tapering into the pedicel. 
Opcreulum thick, obtusely acuminate, usually rather longer than the calyx tube. 
Kiamr.ns 4 to 6 lines long, somewhat raised above the calyx border by the annular margin of the 
disk. 
Anthers avoid-oblong, with distinct parallel cells. 
Oeary flat-topped or slightly conical in the centre. , 
Fruil ovoid-oblong, truncate, smooth, contracted above the middle, about ' inch long, or rather 
more, the rim thin and slightly prominent, the capsule much sunk. (B.F1. iii, 228.) 
Botanical Name. Eucalyptus, already explained (see Part II, p. 34); robusta, 
Latin, strong, firm, robust, &c. The botanist who first described this tree said, " The 
size and strength of the tree, like that of the European Quercus Robur (the Oak), seem 
particularly to justify the name robusta." 
Vernacular Names. It is called "Swamp Mahogany" because of the 
situation in which it grows, and because the wood was supposed to resemble the true 
Mahogany of Central America in appearance. Our ordinary " Mahogany" (Eucalyptus 
resinifera). usually qualified by the adjectives " red " or " forest " more strongly 
