Austral English Part 105

Lemon-scented Gum--

1860. G. Bennett, `Gatherings of a Naturalist,' p. 265:

"Among the Eucalypti or gum-trees growing in New South Wales, a species named the lemon-scented gum-tree, Eucalyptus citriodora, is peculiar to the Wide Bay district, in the northern part of the colony."

Mountain Gum--

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. I. c. iii, p. 118:

"The cypresses became mixed with casuarina, box and mountain-gum."

Red Gum [see also Red-gum]--

1802. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,'

c. xi. p. 461:

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

1846. G. H. Haydon, `Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 33:

"Red gum, a wood which has of late years been exported to England in great quant.i.ties; it has all the properties of mahogany."

1868. W. Carleton, `Australian Nights,' p. 14:

"While she, the younger, went to fill Her red-gum pitcher at the rill."

1870. J. O. Tucker, `The Mute,' etc., p. 85:

"Then the dark savage `neath the red gum's shade Told o'er his deeds."

1890. `The Argus,' June 14, p. 4, col. I

"Those of the leaden hue are red gums."

Rough Gum--

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. I. c. iii. p. 118:

"The rough-gum abounded near the creek."

Rusty Gum--

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 48:

"The range was openly timbered with white gum, spotted gum, Iron-bark, rusty gum and the cypress pine."

Salmon Gum--

1893. `The Australasian,' Aug. 3, p. 252, col. 4:

"The chief descriptions are salmon, morrel and white gums, and gimlet-wood. The bark of the salmon gum approaches in colour to a rich golden brown, but the satin-like sheen on it has the effect of making it several shades lighter, and in the full glare of the sun it is sufficiently near a rich salmon tint to justify its name."

Silver Gum--

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 113:

"When so many of our Australian trees were named `gums,' a distinguis.h.i.+ng prefix for each variety was clearly necessary, and so the words red, blue, yellow, white and scarlet, as marking some particular trait in the tree, have come into everyday use. Had the pioneer bush botanist seen at least one of those trees at a certain stage in its growth, the term `silver gum' would have found expression."

Spotted Gum--

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 11:

"Ironbark ridges here and there with spotted gum ...

diversified the sameness."

Swamp Gum--

1853. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. ii, p. 132 [James Mitch.e.l.l, On the Strength of Timber, etc., read Nov.12, 1851]:

"The Swamp Gum grows to the largest size of any of this family in Van Diemen's Land. Its growth is nearly twice as rapid as that of the Blue Gum: the annular layers are sometimes very large; but the bark, and the whole tree indeed, is so like the Blue Gum, as not to be easily distinguished from it in outward appearance. It grows best in moist places, which may probably have given rise to its name. Some extraordinary dimensions have been recorded of trees of this species. I lately measured an apparently sound one, and found it 21 feet in circ.u.mference at 8 feet from the ground and 87 feet to the first branches.

Another was 18 1/2 feet in circ.u.mference at 10 feet from the ground, and 213 feet to the highest branch or extreme top.

A third reached the height of 251 feet to the highest branch: but I am told that these are pigmies compared to the giants of even the Blue Gum species found in the southern districts."

1880. Garnet Watch, `Victoria in 1880,' p. 100:

"Groups of native trees, including the black wattle, silver box, messmate, stringy bark, and the picturesque but less useful swamp gum."

Water Gum--

1847. L. Leichhhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 387:

"Long hollows surrounded with drooping tea-trees and the white watergums."

Weeping Gum--

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 169:

"A kind of Eucalyptus, with long drooping leaves, called the `Weeping Gum,' is the most elegant of the family."

White Gum--

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p, 278:

"The natives tell me that it [the ground-parrot] chiefly breeds in a stump of a small White Gum-tree."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 48:

"The range was openly timbered with white gum."