114 
No. 61. 
Eucalyptus coriacea, A. Cunn. 
A White or Cabbage Gum. 
(Natural Order MYRTACE^E.) 
Botanical description.— Genus Eucalyptus. (See p. 33, Part ii.) 
Botanical description. —Species, E. coriacea , A. Cunn.; Schau., in Walp. Rep. 
11, 925. 
A smooth-barked tree attaining sometimes a considerable height, the exterior bark sparingly 
deciduous, the inner smooth and whitish. 
Leaves. —Mostly ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, acuminate and falcate, from 3 to 4 in. to twice 
that length, very thick, smooth and shining, the veins not numerous, very oblique, a few 
starting from below the middle and almost parallel to the midrib, giving the leaf a several- 
nerved appearance. 
Peduncles. —Axillary or lateral, rather thick, terete or slightly compressed, each with about 5 to 
10 flowers, the buds clavate and tapering into a short thick pedicel. 
Calyx-tube. —Very open, nearly 3 lines in diametef. 
Operculum. —Hemispherical, obtuse, or with a small point, or nearly conical, shorter than the 
calyx-tube. 
Stamens 2 to 3 lines long, all perfect, or perhaps a few of the outer ones with abortive anthers ; 
anthers small, reniform, with short divergent cells confluent at the apex. 
Ovary flat-topped. 
Fruits often nearly sessile, smooth, pear-shaped, truncate, 3, or rarely nearly 4, lines in diameter, 
more or less contracted at the orifice, as long as broad or rather longer, and slightly 
tapering at the base, the rim flat or concave, the capsule somewhat sunk or nearly on a level 
with the border, the valves horizontal or scarcely protruding.—(B.F1. iii, 201.) 
Variety. —There is a variety which has short and nearly straight leaves, 
known as alpina, from the high mountain localities which it frequents. It is hut a 
tall shrub or small tree, and is more or less glaucous. Photographs of this, known 
as Snow Gum, will he found facing pages 114 and 115. 
The trees of this species at the highest elevations are remarkable for their 
hare stems, surmounted with a dome or flattish top of leaves. The hare stems are, 
doubtless, the consequence of winds, the leaves being concentrated on the top as a 
thin “ layer,” and offering minimum resistance to the wind. These dwarf trees are 
in masses of a fairly uniform height; a different arrangement would result in the 
crown of leaves of the smaller plants being beaten against the bare stems of their 
taller brethren, and denuded of their foliage. The grotesque leaning forms of the 
