203 
example, E. propinqua and E. tereticornis. Then why another Grey Gum ? 
Suppose we call E. tereticornis Red Gum (a name by which it is frequently known) 
instead of Grey Gum; then there will be more or less confusion between it and its 
brother, E. rostrata, the Red Gum par excellence. Or, to come back to the subject 
of our present Grey Gum, suppose we suppress Grey Gum, having assigned that 
designation to E. propinqua, then there remains the next best and most used name 
for it, which is Leather-jacket. But consider the number of other trees which have 
a vested interest in the name of Leather-jacket, which have indeed more claim to 
the name, because of greater appropriateness and use by a larger number of people, 
and we at once see that if we appropriate the name for E. punctata we shall be as 
far off our “ one species one name ” as ever. The fact of the matter is, that so long 
as people are so obstinate as to please themselves in the matter of names, and so 
long as the same object presented to different individuals is seen by them in 
different aspects, so long will this name difficulty continue. The Grey Gum people 
will not give up their name simply to please the Red Gum people, and so on. The 
former say : “ Our name is the more suitable ; we look at the bark,—see how grey 
it is.” The latter say : “ But look how red the timber is.” It is of no use to blow 
up the botanist. He does not give the local names. The people at large do that, 
and who can control them ? The chief reason why we give “botanical names” is 
in order to obtain a definiteness not obtained by vernaculars. Some of our species 
have at least eight or ten common names. 
The term Grey Gum is applied to punctata because of the dull grey appear¬ 
ance of the bark. The hark lias a roughish appearance, in contradistinction to a 
smooth and even shiny one, possessed by so many of our gums. It has smooth, white 
patches in places, caused by the outer layer of hark falling off. These white 
patches in their turn become grey, and the process of exfoliation of the bark is 
repeated until probably the whole of the hark on the trunk is shed at one time or 
another. Although rather difficult to properly describe, the bark of the Grey Gum 
is so characteristic that, when once pointed out, it could not lie confused with the 
hark of any other hardwood tree. 
It is called “ Black Box ” at Capertee, owing to the darkness of the bark, 
and Mr. Forester Sim, of the same place, says it is also called “ Slaty Gum.” 
The smooth hark is sometimes of a yellow ochre or pale brown colour, hence it 
might then be appropriately called “Brown-barked Gum.” 
Aboriginal Names. —George Caley, the botanical collector for Sir Joseph 
Banks, stated—9th February, 1807—that “ Mandowe,” or “ Mundowey,” was the 
name given by the blacks of the Sydney district. It is interesting to note that, 
half a century later, Sir William Macartliur gave the name “ Maandowie,” as the 
aboriginal name of the Camden blacks, for the local Grey Gum. 
Synonym. — E. tereticornis, Sm. ; var. brachycorys, Benth. (B.F1. iii, 24>z). 
