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.
(R.H.C, Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., 1909, p. 336.)
Systematic. - A small umbrageous tree, usually 20 to 30 feet in height, bark smooth, grey. Abnormal leaves ovate-lanceolate, opposite, decussate, under 1 inch long, paler underneath. Found flowering in opposite leaf stage. Normal leaves linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, crowded, often opposite, under 3 inches long, acuminate, shortly petiolate; venation not prominent, intramarginal vein somewhat removed from the edge, lateral veins spreading, moderately oblique. Peduncles axillary, 1 to 2 lines long, with radiating heads of five to seven flowers. Buds sessile; calyx tube sub-cylindrical, 1 1/2 lines long and twice or more than twice as long as the conical operculum.
Fruit. - Globular, truncate, sessile; rim thin; valves not exserted; 2 lines long and 2 lines in diameter.
They very closely resemble those of E. stellulata, so that these two trees cannot be separated by their fruits.
Habitat. - Kybean River, Monaro, New South Wales, at an altitude of 3,500 feet.

REMARKS. - This species is primarily separated from its congener E. stellulata by the leaf venation, partly by its bark, and chemical constituents.
ESSENTIAL OIL. - Material of this species for distillation was obtained from Kybean, N.S.W., in December, 1908.
The yield of oil was 0.7 per cent. The crude oil was of an amber colour, and had an odour resembling the cineol-pinene oils. It was rich in cineol, contained pinene, but phellandrene was absent. The small amount of ester was probably geranyl-acetate. The first distillate contained the volatile aldehydes valeraldehyde and butaldehyde. The oil is a good one of the cineol class, and it is unfortunate that the yield is not greater. The rectified oil was yellowish in tint, due to the influence of the particular phenol present; this colour is characteristic of the oils of the typical "Gums."
The crude oil had specific gravity at 15° C. = 0.9177; rotation aD + 3.6°; refractive index at 20° = 1.4644, and was soluble in 1.2 volumes 70 per cent, alcohol. The saponification number for the esters and free acid was 5.6.
On rectification, 2 per cent. distilled below 1690 C. (corr.). Between 169-193°, 93 per cent. distilled, and between 230-240°, 2 per cent. distilled. These fractions gave the following results: -
First traction, sp. gr. at 15o C. | = | 0.9155; rotation aD + 3.5o; retractive index at 200 = 1.4617. | ||
Second fraction | " | " | = | 0.9285; rotation dextro-rotatory; refractive index at 200 = 1.4781. |
The cineol, determined by the phosphoric acid method, was 69 per cent. in the crude oil (O.M.).
It is very probable that the higher boiling portion contained the liquid form of eudesmol, particularly as it was dextro-rotatory, and no crystalline body was detected.
 
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