185 
No. 174. 
Litscea dealbata, Nees. 
(Family LAURACE^E.) 
Botanical description.— Genus, Litscea. (See Part XLI V, p. 86.) 
Botanical description.— Species, L. dealbata, Nees, Sjst. Lancia., 030 (1836). 
A moderate-sized tree, the young shoots softly ferruginous-villous. 
Leaves petiolate, ovate-elliptical, or almost oblong, acuminate, contracted at the base, 3 to 6 
inches long, glabrous above, with the primary veins slightly prominent, glaucous underneath, 
the primary veins more prominent and glabrous or villous, few in number, and the lowest 
pair usually longer and thicker. 
Flowers in sessile clusters, axillary or at the old nodes, the pedicels thick, 1 to 2 lines long. 
Perianth-segments 4, lanceolate, 1 to 14 lines long, villous outside, and the margins fringed with 
long ferruginous hairs. 
Filaments filiform, longer than the perianth, bearded with a few hairs below the middle; the 
staminodia in the females small and irregular. 
Ovary slightly hairy ; stigma broad and oblique. 
Fruit globular, 3 to 4 lines diameter, resting on the persistent perianth-tube enlarged into a small 
flat disk, 4-toothed with the persistent remains of the segments. 
Var. ruja. The rufous hairs more abundant and persistent on the branches and underside of 
the leaves. 
Brisbane River, Moreton Bay (Fraser; F. Mueller; W. Hill; Leichhardt); Blue Mountains 
(Miss Atkinson). (B.F1. v, 307.) 
This variety, in its extreme form, gives the plant a different appearance to 
that of the normal species. A connecting locality is brush south of Cape Byron, 
New South Wales (E. Betclie). 
Botanical Name.— Litscea, already explained (see Part XLIY, p. 80) ; 
dealbata, Latin, whited, as with lime or plaster, in allusion to the white underside 
of the leaves. In the 10th century the parish officer whose duty it was to keep 
white-washed or plastered over mural and other decorations of ecclesiastical art on 
the walls of British churches was referred to as “ dealbatus.” Erom time to time 
in modern days old lettering, paintings, and eveu wood-carving are brought to light 
encrusted with ages of layers of whitewash. 
Vernacular Name. —I have heard it called “ Bolly Gum,” a name which 
appears to he somewhat loosely applied to timbers of this class. It is a well-known 
plant, and it certainly has no name commonly applied. 
Aboriginal Name. —“Bunn-ya” of the aborigines (probably County of 
Camden, New South Wales), according to the late Sir William Macarthur. As far 
