Austral English Part 103

Ribbon G.-- E. amygdalina, Labill. Ribbony G.

E. viminalis, Labill.

Risdon G.-- E. amygdalina, Labill.

River G.-- E. rostrata, Schlecht (New South Wales, Queensland, and Central Australia).

River White G.-- E. radiata.

Rough-barked, or Rough G.-- E. botryoides, Smith (Illawarra).

Rusty G.-- E. eximia, Schau.

Scribbly G.-- E. haemastoma, Smith.

Scribbly Blue G.-- E. leuc.o.xylon, F. v. M. (South Australia).

Scrub G.-- E. cosmophylla, F. v. M.

Slaty G.-- E. saligna, Smith (New South Wales); E. tereticornis, Smith (New South Wales and Queensland); E. largiflorens, F. v. M.

Spotted G.-- E. capitellata, Smith (New England); E. goniocalyx, F. v. M.; E. haemastonza, Smith; E. maculata, Hook.

Sugar G.-- E. corynocalyx, F. v. M.; E. gunnii, Hook.

Swamp G.-- E. gunnii, Hook.; E. microtheca, F. v. M.; E. pauciflora, Sieb.; E. viminalis, Labill. (Tasmania).

Weeping G.-- E. pauciflora, Sieb. (Tasmania); E. viminalis, Labill. (New South Wales).

White G.-- E. amygdalina, Labill.; E. gomphocephala, De C. (Western Australia); E. goniocalyx, F. v. M. ; E. haemastoma, Smith; E. hemiphloia, F. v. M. (Sydney); E. leuc.o.xylon, F. v. M. (South Australia); E. pauciflora, Sieb.; E. populifolia, Hook. (Queensland); E. radiata (New South Wales); E. redunca, Schau. (Western Australia); E. robusta, Schlecht. (South Australia); E. saligna, Smith (New South Wales); E. stellulata, Cunn.; E. stuartiana, F. v. M. (Victoria); E. viminalis, Labill.

White Swamp G.-- E. gunnii, Hook. (South Australia).

Yellow G.-- E. punctata, De C.

York G.-- E. foecunda, Schau. (Western Australia).

This list has been compiled by collating many authorities. But the following note on Eucalyptus amygdalina (from Maiden's `Useful Native Plants,' p. 429) will ill.u.s.trate the difficulty of a.s.signing the vernacular names with absolute accuracy to the mult.i.tudinous species of Eucalyptus--

"Eucalyptus amygdalina, Labill., Syn. E. fissilis, F. v. M.; E. radiata, Sieb.; E. elata, Dehn.; E. tenuiramis, Miq.; E. nitida, Hook, f.; E. longifolia, Lindl. ; E. Lindleyana, DC.; and perhaps E. Risdoni, Hook, f.; E. dives, Schauer.--This Eucalypt has even more vernacular names than botanical synonyms. It is one of the `Peppermint Trees' (and variously `Narrow-leaved Peppermint,'

`Brown Peppermint,' `White Peppermint,' and sometimes `Dandenong Peppermint'), and `Mountain Ashes' of the Dandenong Ranges of Victoria, and also of Tasmania and Southern New South Wales. It is also called `Giant Gum' and `White Gum.' In Victoria it is one of the `Red Gums.' It is one of the New South Wales `Stringybarks,' and a `Manna Gum.' Because it is allied to, or a.s.sociated with, `Stringybark,' it is also known by the name of `Messmate.' ... A variety of this gum (E. radiata) is called in New South Wales `White Gum' or `River White Gum.' . . . A variety of E. amygdalina growing in the south coast district of New South Wales, goes by the name of `Ribbon Gum,' in allusion to the very thin, easily detachable, smooth bark. This is also E. radiata probably. A further New South Wales variety goes by the name of `Cut-tail'

in the Braidwood district. The author has been unable to ascertain the meaning of this absurd designation. These varieties are, several of them, quite different in leaves, bark, and timber, and there is no species better than the present one to ill.u.s.trate the danger in attempting to fit botanical names on Eucalypts when only the vernacular names are known."

Various other trees not of the genus Eucalyptus are also sometimes popularly called Gums, such as, for instance--

Broad-leaved Water Gum-- Tristania suavolens, Smith.

Orange G.-- Angophora lanceolata, Cave.

Water G.-- Callistemon lanceolatus, DeC.

Tristania laurina, R. Br.

T. neriifolia, R. Br.

And others.

In addition to this, poets and descriptive writers sometimes apply epithets, chiefly denoting colour or other outward appearance, which are not names of distinct species, such as Cinnamon, Morrell, Salmon, Cable, Silver, etc. [See quotation under Silver Gum.]

1642. Abel Tasman, `Journal of the Voyage to the Unknown Southland' (Translation by J. B. Walker in `Abel J. Tasman: His Life, etc.' 1896)

[Under date Dec. 2, 1642, after describing the trees at Fredrik Hendrik's Bay (now Blackman's Bay, Forestier's Peninsula, Tasmania) 2 to 21/2 fathoms thick, 60 to 65 feet to the first branch, and with steps 5 feet apart cut in them, Tasman says that they found] "a little gum, fine in appearance, which drops out of the trees, and has a resemblance to gum lac (gomma lacca)."

1770. `Captain Cook's Journal' (ed. Wharton, 1893), p. 245:

"May 1st.--We found two sorts of gum, one sort of which is like gum dragon, and is the same, I suppose, Tasman took for gum lac; it is extracted from the largest tree in the woods.

"May 6th.--The biggest trees are as large or larger than our oaks in England, and grow a good deal like them, and yield a reddish gum; the wood itself is heavy, hard, and black like Lignum vitae."

1788. Governor Phillip (Despatch, May 15) in `Historical Records of New South Wales', vol. i. pt. ii. p. 128:

"What seeds could be collected are sent to Sir Joseph Banks, as likewise the red gum taken from the large gum-tree by tapping, and the yellow gum which is found on the dwarf palm-tree."

1789. Captain Watkin Tench, `Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay,' p. 119:

"The species of trees are few, and ... the wood universally of so bad a grain, as almost to preclude the possibility of using it... . These trees yield a profusion of thick red gum (not unlike the Sanguis draconis)."

1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales,' p. 231:

"The red gum-tree, Eucalyptus resinifera. This is a very large and lofty tree, much exceeding the English oak in size."

1793. Governor Hunter, `Voyage,' p. 69:

"I have likewise seen trees bearing three different kinds of leaves, and frequently have found others, bearing the leaf of the gum-tree, with the gum exuding from it, and covered with bark of a very different kind."

1820. W. C. Wentworth, `Description of New South Wales,' p. 66:

"Full-sized gums and iron barks, alongside of which the loftiest trees in this country would appear as pigmies, with the beefwood tree, or, as it is generally termed, the forest oak, which is of much humbler growth, are the usual timber."

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i.

p. 200:

"The gum-trees are so designated as a body from producing a gummy resinous matter, while the peculiarities of the bark usually fix the particular names of the species--thus the blue, spotted, black-b.u.t.ted, and woolly gums are so nominated from the corresponding appearance of their respective barks; the red and white gums, from their wood; and the flooded gums from growing in flooded land."

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,'

vol. II. c. iii. p. 108:

"The silvery stems of the never-failing gum-trees."

1857. H. Parkes, `Murmurs of Stream,' p. 56: