(R.T.B., Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., 1900, p. 689.) Black Stringybark.

Systematic. - A tall tree, with a black stringy bark. Abnormal leaves opposite or alternate, thin ovate, acuminate, shortly petiolate ; pale on underside, branchlets covered with stellate hairs. Normal leaves lanceolate, scarcely falcate, occasionally oblique, mostly under 4 inches long and under 1 inch wide, of a dull green colour; venation only faintly marked on the upper surface, but very distinctly so on the lower, lateral veins oblique, distinct, intramarginal vein removed from the edge. Peduncles axillary, short, under 4 lines, bearing a cluster of from eight to twelve flowers. Calyx hemispherical, under 2 lines in diameter, on a short pedicel; operculum hemispherical, acuminate, about 1 1/2 lines long when mature. Ovary flat-topped. Anthers very small, filaments very slender.

Fruit. - On thick, angled pedicels, hemispherical to pilular; rim variable, thin, or truncate, and even domed occasionally ; valves slightly exserted; about 4 lines in diameter.

The fruits are very much like those of E. eugenioides.

Habitat. - Richmond River district, Cook's River, Sydney, Blackheath, New South Wales.

Timber. - Of a dark brown colour (hence the specific name), comparative only with other "Stringybarks," occasionally affected with borers, and not valued for durability by those interested in the timber trade.

REMARKS. From S. Wilkiiuofuana, R..T.B. and E macrorhyncha, F.v.M., it differs in fruit, timber, and chemical constituents of the oil. From the "Stringybark," K. carnea, R T.B , it differs in the shape of the abnormal leaves and chemical constituents of the oil, although the immature fruit of these species is somewhat similar. E. eugenioides, Sieb., and E. capitellata, Sm., often approach each other closely in morphological characters, and there often seems to be a gradation between the two. but, nevertheless, the two species are quite distinct; and so with this species, although there also appears some similarity in its fruits with those of E. eugenioides, yet the two species differ in too many characters to be one and the same species. The abnormal leaves are not unlike those of E. capitellata, whilst the buds are similar to those of E. eugenioides. It it were not (or the distinctive character of the timber, oil. etc, it might, perhaps, stand as a variety of E. eugenioides, but the former product is of too poor a quality to be associated with so excellent a timber as that yielded by the "White Stringybark," S. eugenioides. The oil also differentiates it entirely from that species.

ESSENTIAL OIL - Leaves and terminal branchlets for distillation were obtained from Woodburn, N.S.W., in August, 1900. The yield of oil was 0.04 per cent. The crude oil was of an amber colour, and had an odour corresponding to that of the pinene terpene oils. Cineol was detected, but there was not more than 5 to 10 per cent. of that constituent in the crude oil. Laevo-rotatory pinene was present in considerable quantity, but phellandrene was absent. The specific gravity of the crude oil at 150 C. = 0.8744, and the optical rotation aD - 340. The saponification number for the esters and free acid was 7.2. The crude oil did not form a clear solution with 10 volumes 80 per cent. alcohol.

The above sample of oil had been stored in the dark, and in September, 1919, was again analysed. Practically no alteration had taken place in the oil during the nineteen years it had been kept, and it thus follows the rule for the pinene Eucalyptus oils generally-90 per cent. distilled below 1900 C. The crude oil and the rectified portion gave the following results:-

The cineol was determined by the resorcinol method in the rectified portion ; when calculated for the crude oil the result was 11 per cent.