92 
Style about 9 lines long. 
Ovules 8 to 10 biseriate. 
Fruit cylindrical, 3 to 4 inches long, the terminal wing of seed broad and truncate at the end. 
(Bailey in “The Queensland Flora,” p. 1358.) 
(This is a free translation of Mueller’s original description.) 
Engler characterises E. Wickhami in the following words : “ distinguished 
by the long-stalked flowers and the horseslioe-sliaped disc.” I cannot see a true 
disc in all the flowers I have examined in this variety. The pedicel shows a slight 
very oblique scar (see Da in plate), outlined by a few weak hairs where the perianth 
has fallen off. 
Variety pillliata. 
This interesting Proteaceous tree is common in North Queensland, on the Bellenden-Ker Range 
and on the Barron River, but has not been found in Southern Queensland, as far as we know; and now it 
turns up again in Northern New South Wales, in a very restricted area, in a different form. Mr. Boorman 
informs us that he did not see more than about a dozen trees in a radius of 12 miles of the Dorrigo town¬ 
ship, and that it seems not to grow anywhere else in the district. It is a true brush tree, growing in 
company with Araucaria, Dysoxylon, Harpullia, &c., attaining a height of 60 to 80 feet, by about 5 feet 
diameter. The flowers and fruits are quite identical with the Bellenden-Ker specimens, but the leaves are 
pinnate in the New South Wales specimens, and simple in the Queensland ones. Such a sharp distinction 
would justify us in giving it a new name, if it belonged to any other family, but the variability of the leaves 
is so marvellous in Proteacese, that we can only regard it as a pinnate-leaved form. The leaves are from 9 to 
18 inches long, including the slender petiole, pinnate with 7 to 9 leaflets; leaflets lanceolate, generally 4 to 
5 inches long, and | to 1 inch broad in the middle, tapering at both ends, pinnately obliquely veined, only 
the pi’incipal veins conspicuous. The rhachis between the leaflets is in most leaves slightly winged towards 
the top, frequently uniting the three uppermost leaflets at the base, and thus showing a tendency to relapse 
into a pinnatifid leaf. This tendency is distinctly shown in the floral leaves; the first leaves below the 
inflorescence are frequently simple, next to the simple leaf follows occasionally a leaf cleft to or nearly to 
the rhachis into two lobes, and then follow, generally abruptly, the pinnate leaves. 
Mr. Boorman distinguishes two forms gi’owing together in the same restricted area: one is the tall 
tree described above; the other is a small shrubby form 10 to 15 feet high, with considei'ably smaller 
leaves, and a greater tendency to simple or lobed leaves. The specimens look very distinct, but this is again 
merely an instance of the protean character of Proteacese ; the small form will eventually grow out into 
the tall form, and only tall old trees seem to have the large pinnate leaves. The tree is of special intei’est 
because it is one of the few links which connect the flora of Australia with that of South Amei'ica. (Maiden 
and Betche in Proc. Linn. Soc. N'.S. IF., xxxv, 795 [1910].) 
Following is an account of the allied Embothrium coccineum, JR. and G. Poster. 
From Chili to the Straits of Magellan. The Notra or Ciruelillo. A ti’ee of exquisite beauty, but 
seldom reaching above 30 feet in height. The wood is utilised for furniture. E. lanceolatum is merely a 
variety (Dr. Philippi). The equally gorgeous E. emarginatum of the Peruvian Andes and E. Wickhami, 
(F.v.M.) from Mount Bellenden-Ker of North Queensland, deserve, with the East Australian allied 
Stenocarpus sinuatus (Endlicher), a place in any sheltered gai’dens or parks of the warm temperate zone- 
(Mueller’s Select Extra-tropical Plants.) 
Botanical Name. — Embothrium, latinised form of two Greek words, en f in, 
bothrion, a little pit, in reference to the pollen-cases or anthers; Wickhami, in 
honour of Captain John Clement Wickham, Royal Navy, explorer and navigator. 
He discovered the Victoria River in Northern Australia. 
Vernacular Names. —Mr. Bailey calls it “ Red Silky Oak,” and I know no 
other name. But the pity is that the name is likely to cause confusion, in New 
South Wales, with another Red Silky Oak ( Stenocarpus salignus ), which has deeper 
red timber. See Part VI of this work. 
