(A. Cunn., Hook., in Mitch. Trop. Austr. 390. Syn. E. pendula, A. Cunn., in Steud. Nom. Bot., Ed. 2: E. largiflorens, F.v.M., in Trans. Vict. Inst., i, 34, and Fragm., ii, 58).

Red Box

Systematic. - A tree in favourable situations attaining a height of 100 feet, and vernacularly known as "Goborro" in some parts of the State. Bark persistent, ashy grey or blackish. Branches more or less drooping, sometimes as much as those of the Weeping Willow. Leaves lanceolate, elliptical, shortly acuminate, of a rather thick texture, silvery grey on both sides, petioles not long; veins few, not distinct, the intramarginal one well removed from the edge. Flowers small, sometimes red, in axillary or terminal panicles, almost sessile; operculum hemispherical.

Fruit. - Somewhat pilular in shape, the orifice contracted; the rim narrow; valves enclosed; mostly under 3 lines in diameter.

Care is required not to mistake the fruits for those of E. polybractea or E. Beyeri, but they are not so tapering as in the latter.

Habitat. - From the Bogan to the Lachlan and Murrum-bidgee, New South Wales; South Australia; Victoria; Queensland; North Australia.

REMARKS. - This Eucalyptus has several vernacular names other than the above, but " Red Box" is the most general one, as it expresses the colour of the timber, which is hard, interlocked, and very durable. The venation of the leaf is very characteristic, and is constant throughout the range of the species, and this feature alone at once differentiates it from E. interlexta, R.T.B., and E. Woollsiana, R.T.B., which are generally found interspersed with it. In the first edition of this work, these specific data were given under the name E. pendula, A. Cunn.. but research has since shown that E. bicolor is the more correct name for the tree occurring in the districts travelled by this botanist and explorer when he states "the marginal vein is not so close to the edge of the leaf." This marked distance of the marginal vein from the edge of the leaf is quite its specific character amongst Eucalyptus species.

ESSENTIAL OIL.---Leaves and terminal branchlets for distillation were obtained from Nyngan, N.S.W., in November, 1899. The yield of oil was 0.85 per cent. The crude oil was light orange-brown in colour, and had a strong odour of volatile aldehydes. In general characters it resembled the oils of the cineol-pinene class of Eucalyptus oils; cineol was present in quantity, pinene was the chief terpene, and phellandrene absent. This oil increased in cineol content on keeping.

The leaves of this sample were broader than was the case with other trees of this species growing in this locality, but the oils from both forms were practically identical; the constituents were the same, and these were present in similar proportions.

The crude oil had specific gravity at 150 C. = 0.9155; rotation aD + 5.5°; refractive index at 20° = 1.4675, and was soluble in 1 1/2 volumes 70 per cent. alcohol. The saponification number for the esters and free acid was 8.4.

On rectification, about 1 per cent. distilled below 1670 C. (corr.). Between 167-1830, 85 per cent. distilled; between 183-2500, 3 per cent. came over, and between 250-2600, 4 per cent. distilled. These fractions gave the following results • -

The cineol, determined by the phosphoric acid method in the fractionated oil, was 55 per cent. (O.M.), indicating about 48 per cent. in the crude oil.

The above sample of oil had been preserved in the dark, and in September, 1919, was again analysed. The increase in the specific gravity during the twenty years it had been kept was distinctly shown, and an increase in cineol was also evident.

On rectification, 78 per cent. distilled below 190° C. The results with the crude and rectified oils were as follow: -

The cineol, determined by the resorcinol method in the portion distilling below 1900, and calculated for the crude oil, was 74 per cent. By the phosphoric acid Pharmacopoeia method, the cineol in the fraction was 80 per cent., or about 62 per cent, when calculated for the original oil.