11 
BUDS. FLOWERS. FRUITS. 
Eucalyptus flowers when expanded and mature present great differences; not 
only in size and structure, but also in colouring. Most of them are dull white or 
cream-coloured; some are scarlet, some crimson. Many of them by their abundant 
honey offer strong attraction to bees. It is, however, by their anthers or pollen 
organs that they afford their most important aid in the work of grouping. In a 
large number of species the two lobes or pollen thecae of the anther are divergent, 
and present with the connecting tissue a form very much like that of a kidney. 
They are spoken of as reniform or kidney-shaped. In another very large group 
the lobes are nearly or quite parallel. In the great majority of species the pollen 
escapes from the cells or sacs through longitudinal slits, but in a few through 
circular terminal pores. The anthers are large enough to be distinguished by the 
aid of a good pocket lens. The style and stigma also vary with the species and must 
be carefully observed. 
FRUITS. 
In the botanical sense a fruit is a seed-vessel containing fertilized seed. A 
Eucalyptus fruit may be considered as consisting of these three parts: (a) A 
woody outer case or cup with an opening or orifice at the calyx end; ( b) within 
the woody case or cup the ovary in which the seeds were formed and fertilized; 
(c) the seeds. The ovary or seed-sac, which exactly fits into the outer woody case 
or cup, and becomes adherent to or a part of it, is divided into three, four, five, and 
sometimes six cells, and is furnished with a corresponding number of valves. While 
the valves remain closed they meet at their edges over the centre line of each cell, 
and so form a complete covering, which may be convex, flat, or concave. When 
the fruit becomes quite dry, either on the tree or separated from it, the valves con¬ 
tract at the edges and often rise at the points, thus permitting the closely packed 
seeds to escape from the cells. The covering over the seed cells formed by the 
valves while they remain closed and united is sometimes called a capsule; but this 
word is also sometimes applied to the seed-cup as a whole and is thus ambiguous. 
To avoid possible misunderstanding, it may be well to speak always of the valves 
as such, whether they remain still closed or have opened to release the seeds. If the 
valves when open are wholly below the rim of the seed-cup, they are said to be 
sunk or enclosed; if they project beyond it they are said to be exserted. Euca¬ 
lyptus fruits differ very greatly in size, the smallest being as little as one-eighth of 
an inch, and the largest over two inches in diameter. They differ also in form, 
in external ornamentation, in the position of the valves, and in the percentage and 
aspect of their fertilized seeds. Students who have leisure and the use of a micro¬ 
scope will find a close comparative study of the seeds very helpful in specific deter¬ 
mination and grouping. 
Eucalyptus seed-vessels are often called “fruits after they have shed their 
seed. This is by a figure of speech that applies to a part the name of the whole. 
Botanists know what is meant and are not subject to any risk of misapprehension. 
But we have also to consider general readers to whom the dual use of a technical 
word may become very perplexing. What we usually observe and describe in this 
connection is the external seed-vessel, and it seems fair to inquiie whether 
a term may not be found that will be equally appropriate whethei the vessel 
still contains its seed or is empty. A. J. McClatchie in Eucalypts Cultivated in 
the United States adopted the term “seed case”. His meaning is clear enough, but 
the object suggested to the mind by the word case is not like anything that we 
