Critical revision of the genus eucalyptus Volume 2: Parts 11-20 Maiden, J. H. (Joseph Henry) (1859-1925) University of Sydney Library Sydney 2002 http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/oztexts © University of Sydney Library. The texts and images are not to be used for commercial purposes without permission Source Text: Prepared from the print edition of Parts 11-20 Critical revision of the genus eucalyptus, published by William Applegate Gullick Sydney 1914. 312pp. All quotation marks are retained as data. First Published: 1914 583.42 Australian Etext Collections at botany prose nonfiction 1910-1939 Critical revision of the genus eucalyptus volume 2 (Government Botanist of New South Wales and Director of the Botanic Gardens, Sydney) “Ages are spent in collecting materials, ages more in separating and combining them. Even when a system has been formed, there is still something to add, to alter, or to reject. Every generation enjoys the use of a vast hoard bequeathed to it by antiquity, and transmits that hoard, augmented by fresh acquisitions, to future ages. In these pursuits, therefore, the first speculators lie under great disadvantages, and, even when they fail, are entitled to praise.” Macaulay's “Essay on Milton” Sydney William Applegate Gullick, Government Printer 1914 Part XI Critical Revision of the Gents Eucalyptus Part XI J. H. Maiden 1910 XLI. Eucalyptus Bosistoana, F. v. Mueller. PAGE Description 1 Notes supplementary to the description 1 Synonym 2 Range 2 Affinities 4 Description. XLI.—E. Bosistoana, F.v.M. Australasian Journal of Pharmacy, October, 1895. Finally tall; branchlets slender, at first angular. Leaves.—On rather short petioles, almost chartaceous, mostly narrow or elongate- lanceolar, somewhat falcate, very copiously dotted with translucent oil glandules, generally dull-green on both sides, their lateral venules distant, much divergent, the peripheric venule distinctly distant from the edge of the leaf, all faint. Leaves of Young Seedlings.—Roundish or ovate, scattered, stalked; umbels few- flowered, either axillar-solitary or racemosely arranged. Peduncles.—Nearly as long as the umbels or oftener variously shorter, slightly or sometimes broadly compressed. Pedicels.—Usually much shorter, rather thick and angular. Tube of the Calyx.—Turbinate-semiovate, slightly angular. Lid.—Fully as long as the tube, semiovate-hemispheric, often distinctly pointed. Stamens.—All fertile, the inner filaments abruptly inflected before expansion; anthers very small, cordate or ovate-roundish, opening by longitudinal slits. Style.—Short; stigma somewhat dilated. Fruit.—Comparatively small, nearly semiovate, its rim narrow, its valves 5–6 or rarely 4, deltoid, totally enclosed, but sometimes reaching to the rim; sterile seeds very numerous, narrow or short; fertile seeds few, ovate, compressed, slightly pointed. In swampy localities at Cabramatta, and in some other places of the County of Cumberland and also in the County of Camden (Rev. Dr. Woolls); near Mount Dromedary (Miss Bate); near Twofold Bay (L. Morton); near the Genoa (Barnard); on the summit of the Tantawanglo Mountains, and also near the Mitchell River (Howitt); between the Tambo and Nicholson Rivers (Schlipalius); near the Strezlecki Ranges (Olsen). The “Wul Wul” of the aborigines of the County of Dampier; the “Darjan” of the aborigines of Gippsland. Called locally by the colonists of New South Wales “Ironbark Box-tree,” and in some places also “Grey Box-tree,” which appellations indicate the nature of the wood and bark, though the latter may largely be shedding. As richly oil-yielding and also as exuding much kino, this tree is especially appropriate to connect therewith the name of Joseph Bosisto, Esq., C.M.G., who investigated many of the products of the Eucalypts, and gave them industrial and commercial dimensions. This species in its systematic affinities is variously connected with E. odorata, E. siderophloia, E. hemiphloia, and E. drepanophylla. A fuller account of this valuable tree will early be given. Notes supplementary to the Description. Shortly after the publication of E. Bosistoana, I wrote to Baron von Mueller, pointing out that he had confused two trees in his description—namely, a “Grey Box” and an “Ironbark Box.” He thanked me for the information, and stated he intended to publish further notes on the tree (as, indeed, he promised at the conclusion of the description), but his intention was frustrated by pressure of work and subsequent death. I will endeavour to make E. Bosistoana quite clear—that is to say, the tree almost exclusively referred to in the description—and will touch upon the confusion which has arisen when referring to the Ironbark Boxes in this and a later Part. It is a species which has successively been confused by Mueller (and by Woolls and others following Mueller), with E. bicolor, E. melliodora, and E. odorata. Synonym. E. bicolor, Woolls (Contrib. Flora of Australia, 232), non A. Cunn.; see also p. 7 of the present Part. IN the Woollsian herbarium, which is my property, there is a specimen in Dr. Woolls' handwriting bearing the following label :— “Yellow or Bastard Box, half-barked when young, nearly smooth when full- grown. Hard wood. Height, 120 feet. Cabramatta. E. bicolor.” On another occasion, Dr. Woolls labelled a similar specimen from Cabramatta “E. largiflorens.” There is no question as to the identity of this tree, even if his specimens did not make it quite clear. It is E. Bosistoana, F.v.M., is typical for the species, as determined by Mueller himself (Mueller first labelled this specimen E. odorata, Behr., and then E. Bosistoana), and the assumption that Woolls' determination of the tree as E. bicolor was correct has given rise to some curious mistakes. See my paper, Proc. Linn. Soc., N.S.W., xxvii, 519 (1902), for a full account of the matter. Range. So far as we know at present, it is confined to eastern New South Wales, from the Illawarra and the southern tableland in the north as far as north Gippsland (Bairnsdale district), Victoria, in the south. VICTORIA. It grows only in Gippsland, especially on limestone formations, commencing to the westward of Bairnsdale, and extending beyond Lake Tyers. Unfortunately, it grew principally upon lands which were required for settlement, and, consequently, immense quantities of this tree have been ringbarked. It is still found growing on some private lands, on some unalienated Crown lands, in the neighbourhood of Lake King, and in Cunninghame State Forest.—(A. W. Howitt, in an unpublished official report, 1895.) NEW SOUTH WALES. EDEN (A. W. Howitt). Following is a copy of a label by Oldfield (dated 1866), in Herb. Barbey-Boissier: “Box-tree.—Tree 160 feet; bark dark grey, spongy on trunk; limbs very white, soft to the touch, like velvet. Stony Ranges, called Mountain Hut Range, near Eden, Twofold Bay.” Later, the label bears the name E. leucoxylon in Oldfield's handwriting. The specimens are E. Bosistoana, F.v.M. There are similar specimens in Herb. Cant., labelled “No. IX Eucalyptus leucoxylon, F.M., ‘Box-tree,’ New South Wales, Hb. Oldfield,” and, doubtless, in other herbaria. This is the key, in my opinion, to the use of the name “Box” having been attached to E. leucoxylon. The name box is never used in Australia for true E. leucoxylon, so far as my experience goes. If it is so used, it must be very rarely. Bega district; also, “Red, Grey, White Box,” Cobargo (J. S. Allan); Mt. Dromedary (Miss Bate); “Grey Box,” Noorooma (A. Langley); abounds in Wagonga district (F. R. Benson); “Grey Box” (J. V. de Coque) and “Red Box” (J. S. Allan), both in the Moruya district; Lower Araluen (J.H.M.); Milton; also “Yellow Box,” West Dapto (R. H. Cambage); “Box,” or “White Box,” of Razorback, 4 miles from Wingello (J.H.M. and J. L. Boorman); Marulan (A. Murphy). (E. Bosistoana, from Marulan, was provisionally determined by F.v.M. as E. bicolor many years ago.) Bullio to Wombeyan (R. H. Cambage and J.H.M.). Cabramatta district, County of Cumberland, occurring between Bankstown and the Cabramatta railway station, and also thence to Bringelly and Cabramatta (now Rossmore). Woolls' Cabramatta specimens, already referred to, have large, plump flower- buds; there are no fruits. “There used to be some large trees of it near Bringelly, growing in a swampy place. Wood reddish-yellow and very tough when dry.” (W. Woolls.) Then on specimens collected by J. L. Boorman at Bankstown, on 8th February, 1900, he and I made the following notes:— “No. 13, ‘Yellow Box.’ Very tall trees, ribbony base. Clean grey tips from 12 to 14 feet from ground. Leaves elliptic ovate, acuminate, of a glaucous colour. Timber yellow. Usually known as Bastard Box.” Subsequently, on 20th July, 1901, I went to Cabramatta with Mr. Boorman and interviewed Mr. Hoy, a local resident, in regard to the range of this tree in the district, and compared the local Grey Box (E. hemiphloia) with it. See Affinities, p. 4. Affinities. 1. With E. odorata, Behr. The odorata of Howitt's paper, “The Eucalypts of Gippsland.” Trans. Roy. Soc. Vict., 1890, is E. Bosistoana. The Bairnsdale Grey Box is one of our most durable, and from the large size attained, one of the most valuable of our timber trees. Until I examined its characters critically, and until its botanical peculiarities were investigated, at my instance, in collections which I forwarded to Baron von Mueller, it was considered locally as “Yellow Box” (E. melliodora), to which it has a slight superficial resemblance.—(Report of A. W. Howitt, 1895.) It differs from E. odorata in the greater paleness of its timber, its more erect habit, and in other characters. E. Bosistoana belongs to a group of species including E. odorata, melliodora, leucoxylon, and others, which have almost similar rims to the nearly ripe fruit.