This section is from the book "A Research On The Eucalypts Especially In Regard To Their Essential Oils", by Richard T. Baker, Henry G. Smith. Also available from Amazon: A Research On The Eucalypts And Their Essential Oils.
(Hook., f., in Lond. Journ. Bot., vi, 477, 1847.)
Systematic. - A small tree, generally very glaucous, with a smooth white bark. Abnormal leaves opposite, sessile or shortly petiolate, oval, rarely obovate, mucronate, about 1 inch long. Normal leaves lanceolate or narrow elliptical, usually acuminate, uncinate, thick and shining, 2 to 3 inches long; venation not prominent, intramarginal vein well removed from the edge, lateral veins oblique. Flowers sessile, from three to six on axillary or lateral peduncles, thick, flattened upwards, 2 to 4 lines long. Calyx tube prominently angled tapering to base, 3 lines long; operculum very short, flat or depressed rugose.
Fruit. - Broad, turbinate, sometimes conoidal; rim broad, flat or somewhat domed; valves scarcely exserted; 5 lines long and 6 lines in diameter.
These fruits are fairly characteristic, perhaps the nearest in shape are those of E. hæmastoma, that is the pedicellate form. The sessile fruits are near perhaps to those of E. St. Johni, except that this rim is nearly flat.
Habitat. -Confined to Tasmania, at high elevations.
REMARKS.__It is generally recorded as one of the few endemic Eucalypts of Tasmania, and as it only occurs near or on the snow-line, does not assume large proportions, consequently its economics are limited.
ESSENTIAL OIL.- Material for distillation was obtained from Mt. Wellington, Tasmania, at an altitude of about 4,000 feet. It was collected in July, 1908. The principal constituent in the oil of this species was phellandrene, and pinene practically absent. Cineol was present only in small amount, probably not more than 5 per cent, in the first fraction. Traces of eudesmol were detected when the oil was first distilled The oil also contained a small amount of piperitone, and thus belongs to the "Peppermint" group of these oils, of which E. dives may be considered the type. The chemical results show E. coocifera to be very closely related to E. coriacea; the yield of oil is somewhat small for a phellandrene-bearing Eucalypt, consequently E coccifera has no commercial value as an oil-producing tree.
The yield of oil from the leaves and terminal branchlets was o 61 per cent. The crude oil was of an amber colour. It had specific gravity at 15° C. = 0.8810; rotation aD - 35.8°; refractive index at 20° C. = 1.4849, and was insoluble in 10 volumes 80 per cent. alcohol. The saponification number for the esters and free acid was only 4.9.
On rectification, a small quantity of acid water and volatile aldehydes came over below 1700 C. (corr.). Between 170-1830 69 per cent. distilled; between 183-2350, 5 per cent., and between 235-2780, 20 per cent. These fractions gave the following results: -
First fraction, sp. gr. at 150 C. | = | 0.8561; rotation aD - 43.4°; refractive index at 200 = 1.4791. | |||
Second | " | " | " | = | 0.8705; rotation aD - 25.2°; refractive index at 200 = 1.4831. |
Third | " | " | " | = | 0.9199; rotation not taken; refractive index at 200 = 1.4970. |
The high-boiling traction consisted largely of the sesquiterpene together with eudesmol.
The results of this investigation were published by us in the Proc. Roy Soc , Tasmania, October, 1912.
 
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