No. 69. 
Hfi 
Eucalyptus numerosa. Maiden. 
The River White Gum. 
(Natural Order MYRTACE^E.) 
Botanical description. —Genus, Eucalyptus, L’Herit. (See p. 33, Part II.) 
Botanical description. —Species, E. numerosa , Maiden, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 
1904, 752-4. 
It is often seen as a graceful sapling, but may attain the dignity of a large tree. In this State 
I have seen it up to 3 feet in diameter and more, with a height of 150 feet. It has rather sparse drooping 
foliage, which gives it at times something of a willow-like aspect. 
Bark .—It is nearly a White Gum when very young, but afterwards the bark of the upper part 
falls off in thin long ribbons (hence the name, Ribbon Gum), and the lower part of the 
trunk becomes covered to a varying height with fibrous bark of the character known to 
many as Peppermint-bark. In its most marked form the bark of the butt is more rugged 
than that of amygdalina usually is. Sir William Macarthur spoke of the fibrous bark, and 
subsequently Mr. Howitt pointed out that the aborigines of Gippsland similarly used the 
bark for tying and lashing, hence their name for the tree, “ Wang-ngara,” which signifies 
“ bark-string.” 
Juvenile leaves. The young stems have a rusty glandular appearance, and the leaves are very 
narrow. 
Mature leaves. —Thin, though usually narrow, up to 11 lines broad, often from 1 to 7 inches 
long. Although the leaves of this form are very thin, specimens from Bateman’s Bay to 
Wagonga are especially thin. These specimens also have unusually narrow leaves. 
Fruits. —Large in number (commonly twenty or more). Mueller counted as many as forty-three 
in the umbel (see “ Eucalyptographia ” under E. amygdalina). I have often counted them 
with forty in an umbel borne on rather long, often filiform, pedicels. They have a very 
regular umbellate appearance. Mostly pale-coloured when dry. Very uniform in size, 2 to 
21, lines (barely) in diameter, and pilular or nearly pear-shaped. Sometimes they tend 
to close, at the orifice. The rim varies in width. In some specimens it is comparatively 
broad, well-defined, and reddish. 
Botanical Name. — Eucalyptus, already explained, page 34, Part II. 
Numerosa, Latin, in allusion to the large number of fruits in the umbel, as already 
referred to. 
Vernacular Names. —“ River Gum of Camden,” of the late Sir William 
Macarthur. “ White Gum,” of Bent’s Basin and the Nepean generally. It is very 
difficult to propose a suitable name for this tree, and I would suggest that 
