64 
No. 10. 
Eucalyptus resinifera, Sm. 
The Red Mahogany. 
(Natural Order MYRTACE^,) 
Botanical description. —Genus, Eucalyptus, L’Heritier. (See Part ii, page 33.) 
Botanical description.— Species, E, resinifera , Smith in White's Voyage (1790), 
231. 
Following is the original description :— 
“ Floribus pedunculatis, calyptrd conicd acutd. 
“ This is a very large and lofty tree, much exceeding the English Oak in size. The wood is extremely 
brittle, and, from the large quantity of resinous gum which it contains, is of little use but for firewood. 
Of the leaves Mr. White has given no account, nor sent any specimens. The flowers grow in little clusters, 
or rather umbels, about ten in each, and every flower has a proper partial footstalk, about a quarter of an 
inch in length, besides the general one. The general footstalk is remai'kably compressed (anceps), and the 
partial ones are so in some degree. We have perceived nothing like bractea or floral leaves. The flowers 
appear to be yellowish, and are of a very singular structure. The calyx is hemispherical, perfectly entire 
in the margin, and afterwards becomes the capsule. On the top of the calyx, rather within the margin, 
stands a conical pointed calyptra, which is of the same colour as the calyx, and about as long as that and 
the footstalk taken together. This calyptra, which is the essential mark of the genus, and differs from 
that of the Eticalyptus obliqua of L’Heritier only in being conical and acute instead of hemispherical, is 
perfectly entire, and never splits or divides, though it is analogous to the corolla of other plants. When it 
is removed we perceive a great number of red stamina standing in a conical mass, which before the 
calyptra was taken off, were completely covered by it, and filled its inside. The antherae are small and 
red. In the centre of these stamina is a single style of pointal rising a little above them, and terminated 
by a blunt stigma. The stamina are very resinous and aromatic. They are inserted into the margin of 
the calyx, so that the genus is properly called by Mr. L’Heritier in the class Icosandria. These stamina 
and style being removed, and the germen cut across about the middle of the calyx, it appears to be divided 
into three cells, and no more, as far as we have examined, each containing the rudiments of one or more 
seeds, for the number cannot with certainty be determined. Whether the calyptra in this species falls off, 
as in that described by Mr. L’Heritier, or be permanent, we cannot tell. From one specimen sent by Mr. 
White, the latter should seem to be the case ; and that the calyx swells and rise around it nearly to the 
top, making a pear-shaped fruit, with the point of the calyptra sticking out at its apex; but as this only 
appears in a single flower, and none of the others are at all advanced towards ripening seed, the flower in 
question may possibly be in the morbid state, owing to the attacks of some insect. (See fig. G.*) Future 
observations will determine this point. We have been the more diffuse in our description on account of 
the singularity of the genus, and the value of the plant. On making incisions in the trunk of this tree, 
large quantities of resinous juice are obtained, sometimes even more than 60 gallons from a single tree. 
When this juice is dried it becomes a very powerfully astringent gum-resin of a red colour, much 
resembling that in the shops known as “ Kino,” and, for all medical purposes, fully as efficacious. Mr. 
White administered it to a great number of patients in the dysentery which prevailed much soon after the 
landing of the convicts, and in no one instance found it to fail. This gum-resin dissolves almost entirely 
in spirits of wine, to which it gives a blood-red tincture. Water dissolves about one-fifth part only, and 
the watery solution is of a bright red. Both these solutions are powerfully astringent. The plate* 
represents a portion of the bark of the Eucalyptus resinifera, with the fructification annexed.” 
Not reproduced. 
