(Sm., in Trans. Linn. Soc, iii, 286.) Mahogany or Bangalay.

Systematic. - In favourable situations a fine upstanding tree, but often gnarled. Leaves lanceolate, broad, and about 6 inches long, shining on the upper side, drying a slate colour; venation well marked, veins transverse, fine and numerous, the intramarginal vein near the edge. Buds compact and sessile, in the early stage the whole covered by a calyptra. Flowers in axillary clusters; calyx angular, cylindrical ; operculum conical, short.

Fruit. - Mostly sessile, ovoid-oblong, or rounded with a circular groove below the edge; rim countersunk, with or without one or two ridges at the base; valves flat and not exserted, or slightly exserted in some instances; 4 lines long and 3 lines in diameter.

Habitat. - Coast district from the North-east corner of Victoria into Queensland.

REMARKS. - Although as a general rule the "Mahogany," or "Bangalay," occurs on the banks of creeks, when it is much gnarled, yet it is often to be seen growing on elevated ground and with a straight trunk of large dimensions. The bark is red-coloured, short-fibred, flaky, and brittle. The timber is hard, close-grained, red-coloured and very durable. The sessile, elongated fruits and buds are characteristic, and almost sufficient alone for the botanical determination of the species. It is fast disappearing in the county of Cumberland, New South Wales, owing to settlement.

ESSENTIAL OIL. - Leaves and terminal branchlets for distillation were obtained from Milton, N.S.W., in February, 1900. The yield of oil was 0.11 per cent. The crude oil was dark reddish-brown in colour; the odour rank and far from pleasant. It was very mobile and consisted principally of dextropinene; phellandrene was not present, and but a very small quantity of cineol was detected in the oil distilling between 175-180° C. The higher boiling portion consisted largely of the sesquiterpene.

The crude oil had specific gravity at 150 C. = 0.8778, and required 7 volumes 80 per cent. alcohol to form a clear solution. The refractive index at 200 - 1.4730. The saponification number for the esters and free acid was 21.4. The very dark colour of the crude oil indicated an excess of free acid, while the action of the alcoholic potash on the oil suggested that the ester was largely geranyl-acetate, a substance commonly occurring in oils at this end of the genus. The phenols were also pronounced in this oil.

On rectification the usual amount of acid water and volatile aldehydes, for oils of this group, came over below 1600 C. (corr.). Between 160-1900, 87 per cent. distilled, and between 190-2560, 5 per cent. came over. The large fraction had sp. gr. at 150 - 0.873; rotation aD + 23.75°.

The first fraction was again redistilled, when between 158° and 164° C, 33 per cent. came over; and between 164° and 174°, 35 per cent. distilled. The specific gravity of the first fraction = 0.8696; and the second traction = 0.8736.

The optical rotation of the first fraction aD + 27.85°, and of the second fraction aD + 22.35°, so that dextropinene forms the greater portion of the oil of this species. The nitrosochloride was prepared and this melted at the correct temperature for that substance.

Material of this species was also collected at Hurstville, N.S.W., in June, 1898. The oil was almost identical with the above and consisted principally of dextropinene. The specific gravity of the crude oil = 0.8774. The saponification number for the esters and the free acid was 15.2. The crude oil required 9 volumes 80 per cent. alcohol to form a clear solution. The trees at Milton were growing in granite formation, and those at Hurstville in the Hawkesbury sandstone country, so that the constituents of the oil of this species are comparatively constant, irrespective of the geological formation upon which the trees grow.