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It is tlie tree which gives the name to so many New South Wales localities 
which rejoice in the name of Blue Gum Flat—an indication of the alluvial soil it 
prefers. 
Mr. A. R. Crawford, of Moona Plains, wrote to me as follows in February, 
1896, in regard to its distribution in New England : — 
This species is found in heads cf creeks on the eastern slopes, usually smooth and white in 
appearance, like the Flooded Gum of the low country. I have never seen the wood of trees grown there. 
On the table lands it is found in the gullies, running into ranges, and also on ridgy ground. 
Variety parviflora, Deane and Maiden. 
This interesting small-flowered variety was described and figured in the 
Proceedings of the Linnean Society, N.S.W., for 1899. 
It was originally described from Northern New England (Bluff River, near 
Tenterfield; also near Rod-soil Creek, Mount Spiraby, east of the Dividing Range), 
where it bears the local name of “ Silky Gum,” owing to the sheen of its bark. It 
was also called by some people “ White Gum ” and “ Blue Gum.” 
It is a very large tree, with smooth and sometimes almost glaucous bark, a 
little ribbony at the butt. Some of the trees resemble Blue or Flooded Gum 
(PJ. saligna ) a good deal. In other cases it forms a gnarled tree up to 7 or 8 feet in 
diameter as seen ; the scrambling branches in some cases actually touching the 
ground. Some trees remind one of Angophora lanceolata. 
The gnarled trees have buttresses spreading over a large area of land, and 
have thin, scaly, or ribbony bark extending a good distance up the trunk; in others 
the roughish bark extends but a short distance. The trunk and branches show 
patches of bluish, purplish, or reddish colour. The twigs are often red, so are the 
young suckers—twigs, midribs, and margins. 
The tree is what bushmen recognise as a broad-leaved Gum in comparison 
with other species. The young foliage is especially broad, shining, particularly on 
the upper surface, and bears some superficial resemblance to pear foliage. 
Apparently rich in oil, which has a peculiar and somewhat penetrating 
odour, as tested by the crushed leaves. 
The buds are clavate ; the fruits are much smaller than those of the normal 
species ; the valves are not exserted. The timber also appears to be different to 
that of the normal species. 
Recently specimens of this tree, under the name of Brown Gum, were sent 
by Mr. District-Forester Stopford, of Armidale, from Glen Innes, with the following 
report:— 
Known locally in the Glen Innes and Tenterfield part of this district as “ Brown Gum.” 
I do not know this tree in the Armidale portion of the district; the timber is being used at the 
Bald Nob Saw-mill, on the Grafton-road ; and it is also growing in the Tenterfield district, near the falls 
from the New England table-land to the coastal district, to which part it appears confined. 
