126 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 FEs., 190! 
~ Forestry. 
SOME TIMBER TREES OF QUEENSLAND. 
By J. W. FAWCETT, 
Member of the English Arboricultural Society. 
THE NATIVE MYRTLE (BACKHOUSIA MYRTIFOLIA, i. et Harv.) 
Borantcan Drscrrprroy.—The Native Myrtle is a medium-sized i 
growing to a height of from 20 to 40 feet or more, with a diameter of from” 
to 18 inches. The young shoots are covered with silky hairs. 
. . Gg . ! 
Leaves.—The leaves are opposite, narrow ovate in form, 1 or 2 inches 
length, and with a fragrant smell and myrtle-like appearance. 
Flowers.—The flowers, are white and fragrant, arranged either in 5™) 
cymes or in leafy panicles, and appear in bloom from August to January. 
Iruit—The fruit is a capsule. 
Vernacurar anv Screntiric Names.—The Native Myrtle is also Be 
as the Grey Myrtle and Australian Myrtle. The specific name, myrtifolid, \ 
applied to it on account of its myrtle-like leaves, by the British botanists 
W. J. Hooker and W. H. Harvey. 
Disrriputron.—The Native Myrtle is found along creeks and on the baa 
of rivers in the costal district of South Queensland. It is also found in © 
South Wales. 
Usrs.—The Native Myrtle yields a very hard, tough, close-grained, pret 
marked timber, with brown or dark-grey heartwood and light-coloured gapwe 
It is very soft to the touch, and easily wrought, and useful for mallets, aw 
pick, and other tool handles. 
THE REI BOTTLE-BRUSH (CALLISTEMON LANCEOLATUS, DC.) 
Boranicat Descriprion.—The Red Bottle-Brush or Water Gum isa™ 
iree growing to 20, 30, and even 40 feet in height, with a diameter of from 
to 18 inches. Sometimes it is a tall shrub, at others it is only low and bu® 
The young shoots are silky, or covered with loose hairs, and the infloresce!™ 
usually pubescent. 
Bark.—The bark is of a brownish colour and rather rough. 
Leavrs.—The leaves are scattered, lanceolate, and of variable width. te 
are usually acute, from 1 to 2 or 3 inches long, by from 2-inch to 1 inch * 
more in width. hey are rigid (ie, not flexible), more or less distil 
penniveined or feather-veined, and usually silky. a 
. . . . y 
Flowers —The flowers are in spikes, from 2 to 4 inches in length, bul 4 
very dense, and nodding. They are of a pink or deep red-colour, and api 
from September to as late as March and April, and are much sought aft@— 
bees, a 
Fruit—The fruit is a capsule enclosed in and more or less adnate or 
to the truncate (or abruptly terminated) fruiting calyx. 
VeRNACcULAR AND Boranican Names.—The Red Bottle-Brush derived 
name from the colour of its flowers and the resemblance of its flowering *by 
to a bottle-brush, 1 is also called Water Gum and River Myrtle from its be 
of growing in or near the beds of rivers and streams, ‘he generic Mi) 
Callistemon, is devived from two Greek words—Aallistos, signifying " 
