81 
I then wrote :— 
The specimens supplied by your correspondent are those of one of our native corkwoods. This 
one is known to botanists as Endiandra Sieberi, and it belongs to the Laurel family (Lauracece). It is a 
small or medium-sized tree, chiefly confined to this State, though it is found as far north as Moreton Bay in 
Queensland. The most southerly recorded locality is Shellharbour, though I quite expect that it occurs 
closer to the Victorian border. It frequents sandy lands, rich in humus, at no very great distance from 
the sea. Wood pigeons swallow the fruits, although there is but very little succulent matter on them ; 
the timber has but little value. The tree is, as your correspondent states, a handsome one, and it is an 
oversight that people do not cultivate it more, since the number of ornamental trees we have under culti¬ 
vation which flourish in sandy land near the coast is not many. When the bark is soft and juicy, it is 
used for colouring boat-sails of a reddish colour. But the chief value of the tree, as your correspondent 
states, lies in the mature bark, which is a fair substitute for the virgin cork of the cork oak of commerce. 
I have known it to be used by entomologists for pinning out insects, but it is brittle and far inferior to 
commercial cork, and bottle-corks could not be cut from it. There is, however, always limited sale for it 
amongst seedsmen and others, who sell it for covering window boxes and for other horticultural purposes. 
Timber. —When fresh it is a white, somewhat fissile timber, with little or no 
grain. I suppose it would be a useful timber for box-making. 
It is another of our many timbers whose uses are not yet ascertained, and I 
do hope that not only will these uses soon be ascertained, but that the rapidly 
diminishing numbers of these trees will soon be clearly indicated. 
Size. —A small tree in the Sydney district, and at no great distance either 
north or south. It becomes a tree of 60-70 feet and 20 inches in diameter at 
Forster (A. Rudder). In the Macplierson Range Messrs. Dunn and Boorman 
report : Very tall, straight trees of 80-100 feet high, having a girth measurement 
of 6-8 feet. 
Habitat. —Following are the localities recorded in the Flora Australiensis :— 
New South Wales. —Fort Jackson to the Blue Mountains. ( Sieher , n. 275, 
and many others) ; sandy soil near the sea-coast (Leichhardt) ; Richmond River 
(C. Moore). 
Following are some localities represented in the National Herbarium, 
Sydney :— 
Shellharbour (E. Clieel, October, 1899) the most southern locality recorded; 
Stanwell Park (J. II. Camfield); not on sandy sea-coast, but on top of Bulgo, 
Hawkesbury Sandstone, say 309 feet above sea-level, between Otford and Stanwell 
Park (R. H. Cambage and J.1I.M.); 8 to 10 feet at La Perouse, Botany Bay (R. H. 
Cambage) ; Beach near Kineumber (R. II. Cambage and J.H.M.) ; Wyong (J. L. 
Boorman) ; Port Stephens (Miss Connelly) ; Coast sands rich in humus. Forster 
(A. Rudder); Macleay River (W. Macdonald); Richmond River (E. Betche) ; 
Bungawalbin (W. Baeuerlen) ; Acacia Creek, Macplierson Range (W. Dunn). 
D 
