XV.
EUCALYPTUS OBLIQUA
Oblique-leaved Eucalyptus.
ORDO NATURALIS.
Myrti. Juss. Gen. p. 323 et 451.
Sect. I. Antheræ dorso opicis supra insertionera filamenti callosæ.
[1] Calyx apice receptaculi confluens, operculiformis, sub anthesin deciduus basi truncatâ Petalanulla, Filamenta ad marginem receptaculi densissime imbricata, decidua. Pericarpium receptaculo immersum, 3-1-ioculare, superne dehiscens. Stigma sæplua angostum. Seroinn plurima singulls loculis, colo subrotundo sessilia, angulata. Arbores excelsæ, gumrnferæ corticea. quarundam ut in Taxo et Platano deciduo. Gemaæ vix ullæ. Folia primo anno opposita, dein sæpius alterna, plus minus verticalia et inæquilateralia, coriacea, sempervirentia. Flores fasciculati, pedunculo communi subinde decomposito ex arillis foliorum inferiorurn tenellorum, his sæpe cadentibus laterales, vel ramulo partum ultra producto demum terminales. Nomen a vocibus Græcis ευ bene, et καλυπτω tego, concinnavit egregius Botanicus L'Heriter.
* Flores juxta basin ramulorum qtasi laterales.
E. foliis valde inæquilateralibus, anguste obovato-cuneatis, subfalcatis: fasciculis simplicibus: pedunculis teretibus: calyce brevi, coavexo, acuminulato,
E. obliqua. Smith in Linn. Trans. v. 3. p. 287. charactare generis a L'Herit. mutuato. E. obliqua L'Herit. in Alit. Hort. Kew. v. 2. p. 157. E. obliqua. L'Herit. Sert. Angl. p. 18. f. 20.
Sponte nascentam in Van Diemen's Land plagis australibus, legit D. Nelson.
Floret apud nos Junio, Julio.
This rare tree flowered abundantly last year at Isaac Swainson's, Esq. Twickenham, and is now full of fruit, so that I hope it will become common in our gardens; for it is with great difficulty propagated. Some years ago I succeeded in raising a small branch, which having been accidentally wounded had made a large deposit of returning sap; this was cut off close to the new bark, and planted in an old hotbed. It is native of the colder, not the warmer parts of New Holland, as Dr. Smith asserts, bearing the temperature of the freezing point without injury; and was first introduced into this country in the year 1774., by Captain Furneaux, along with Leptospermum Lanigerum, and Sideroxylum Sericeum. The abovementioned author, both in his Botany of New Holland, and in the Linaean Transactions, has copied l'Heritier's generic character from the Hortus Kewensis, only quoting him after the name. Juasieu very differently adds in his work, "Character ex D. L'Herit. Sert. Angl." That Solander never intended to confound it with Metrosideros appears by the following extract from his MSS. "Genus a Metrosideris distincturn ob absentism petalorum et superiorem pattem calycis integram, calyptræformem, deciduam." I believe I, am correct in my description of the Infloreseentia, which is most frequently axillary, but sometimes passes gradually into a terminal compound Fasciculus; for even in the most luxuriant specimens of the various species collected by Sir Joseph Banks, I have always found a small leaf, or cicatrix of a leaf, at the base of each common Peduncle.
REFERENCES TO THE PLATE
- The Operculum.
- An Anther magnified.
- A ripe Fruit.
- A Seed magnified.
- ↑ In E. Resinferâ.Andr. Bot. Rep. Operculum duplex delineatur; exterius nondum ipse vidi, nec in quibusdam, speciebus vel ullam ejus cicatricem.
