27 
Leaves. —This is little more than a shrub, and its timber is of no economic 
importance. But because of the richness of its leaves in oil (say, T35 per cent.), 
and of the fact that this oil is rich in Cineol (Eucalyptol), a constituent deemed, at 
present, to be of special importance as regards the therapeutic value of Eucalyptus 
oil, the Blue Mallee is in especial demand, and thus large areas of Mallee, looked 
upon only a few years ago as quite worthless, are now of considerable value. 
Messrs. Baker and Smith (“ Research on the Eucalypts ”) give the following 
particulars in regard to the oil of this species :— 
Species. 
W hence 
Collected for 
Oil. 
Specific 
Gravity at 
15° C. 
Specific 
Rotation 
[a] 
D. 
Saponification 
Number. 
Solubility 
in 
Alcohol. 
Constituents 
found. 
polybractea 
W yalong, 
N.S.W. 
0-9143 
-2-13° 
4-5 
1^ vols 
70% 
Eucalyptol, 
pinene, 
aromadendral 
There is a short paper entitled “ Oil of Eucalyptus polybractea ,” by 
John C. Umney and C. T. Bennett, in the JPharm. Journ. of 4th February, 1905, 
p. 143, and a brief letter in the issue of the 11th February, 1905, p. 211, by 
E. M. Holmes, commenting on the paper. 
Timber. —A Mallee, and not a large one, either. The only use to which 
the timber is applied is that the root-stocks are used for fuel, and excellent they are. 
Habitat. —I give the few localities recorded in detail, as there are so few of 
them, and the Eucalypt, being commercially valuable, should be further searched 
for. 
South Australia. 
Flinders Range, near Quorn (Max Koch). 
Road from Gladstone to Beetaloo, Flinders Range. “The tree (scarcely 
more than a shrub) had the appearance of a ‘ Whipstick Mallee ’ or ‘ Peppermint ’ ” 
(J. M. Black). 
Victoria. 
Lower Avoca Scrub, Wedderburn ; also Mildura (W. Percy Wilkinson) 
(both labelled E. fruticetorum by Mueller). 
Wedderburn (J. Blackburne). This specimen is from trees used for oil¬ 
distilling, and is certainly intermediate between E. fruticetorum and E. odorata. 
Inglewood (J. Blackburne). With broad juvenile leaves. Another form intermediate 
between E. fruticetorum and E. odorata. 
“Mallee,” Rushworth (A. W. Howitt, J. Blackburne); “Mallee,” St. 
Arnaud (A. W. Howitt). 
B 
