Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Feb.,  1893. 
Notes  on  the  Eucalyptus. 
89 
NOTES  ON  THE  EUCALYPTUS.1 
By  W.  C.  Tyndale,  of  Chicago,  111. 
The  Eucalyptus  tree  is  a  native  of  Australia  and  Tasmania,  where 
it  forms  large  forests.  There  are  about  140  species  described,  but 
they  vary  extremely,  different  kinds  of  leaves  being  produced  on  the 
same  tree,  thus  presenting  distinct  specific  characters,  and  varying 
also  in  the  nature  of  their  barks. 
In  Tasmania  and  Gippsland  Victoria,  they  grow  to  an  immense 
height,  often  exceeding  400  feet.  .Their  naked  and  branchless 
stems  of  a  dirty  white  color  look  like  natural  columns.  These  are 
often  blackened  by  the  fires  of  the  natives  or  wrung  by  the 
settler's  axe,  when  they  afford  a  grand  but  dismal  spectacle,  as  one 
speeds  along  in  the  train  ;  in  some  districts  square  miles  of  country 
are  passed  in  which  the  forests  have  been  wrung  preparatory  to 
settlement,  and  in  some  cases  for  no  obvious  reason,  as  the  land 
is  unfit  for  occupation  and  there  stand  those  former  monarchs  of  the 
forest  like  giant  skeletons,  sapless,  lifeless  looking,  dismal,  and  for- 
lorn in  the  midst  oftentimes,  of  a  luxuriant  undergrowth. 
The  trees  are  named  usually  according  to  the  nature  of  their  bark 
which  they  shed  instead  of  their  leaves,  such  as  stringy  bark  (E. 
obliqua),  iron  bark  (E.  Sideroxylon),  blue  gum  (JE.  Globulus),  pepper- 
mint tree  (ZT.  amygdalina). 
The  wood  of  some  is  very  hard  and  durable,  and  so  heavy  as  to 
sink  in  water.  Many  yield  a  kind  of  resin  or  gum,  such  as  E.  resim- 
fera  and  E.  amygdalina.  A  volatile  oil  of  wonderful  medicinal 
qualities  is  also  produced  from  the  leaves  of  various  kinds  but  more 
especially  from  that  known  as  the  E.  amygdalina,  which  is  the  most 
productive,  and  yields  nine-tenths  of  the  oil  of  commerce,  though 
not  always  placed  in  the  market  under  its  own  name. 
This  arises  from  a  certain  amount  of  notoriety  gained  for  the 
E.  Globulus  abroad,  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  is  the  easiest  of  the 
species  to  acclimatize.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  there  is  scarcely 
any  E.  Globulus  distilled  in  Australia.  E.  mannifera  yields  sweet 
secretions  analogous  to  manna.  E.  Gunnii  furnishes  a  liquid  that 
ferments  and  forms  a  kind  of  beer.  They  all  produce  abundance 
of  seed,  which  vegetates  freely  and  becomes  naturalized  in  various 
countries. 
^Journal  of  the  Amer.  Med.  Assoc.,  Jan.  21,  1893,  p.  70;  compare  also  Ann-) . 
Jour.  Phar.,  1876,  pp.  370-375. 
