Range - Setis

XXIX. E. apiculata Baker and Smith.
Syn. E. stricta var. rigida, Proc. Linn. Soc., N.S.W., xxii, 710 (1897), with a fig.
(fig. 189, Plate 31). See Part IX, p. 286, and also Synonyms quoted.
Range
Wentworth Falls, N.S.W. (in fruit, Henry Deane, about 1886); Leura (shrub 3–5
feet, December, 1907): Wentworth Falls (Dr. E. C. Chisholm, January and
February, 1923). Hitherto the species has only been recorded from a southern
locality (Berrima), while Wentworth Falls and Leura are westerly (Blue Mountains).
Mittagong (see under Affinities) is at no great distance from Berrima. I expect to see
the species from various localities connecting the southern and western records.
Affinities
1. With E. stricta Sieb.
In “Some Eucalypts about Mittagong” (Aust. Nat. v, 98, 1923), Mr. D. W. C.
Shiress refers to “. . . . a single tree with every appearance of E. stricta, a Gum with
scribbly bark, just before the turn off to Joadja.” Mr. W. F. Blakely has since visited
the district, in company with Mr. Shiress, and has brought back additional
specimens. He says :—
It is a slender tree 20 to 30 feet high and about 9 inches in diameter at 2 feet from
the ground, growing in association with E. radiata and E. maculosa. Viewed from a
short distance, it has the general appearance of a young sapling of E. altior, i.e., a
smooth powdery white-barked Gum, with the old bark slightly adherent at the base
in long broad strips. It has, however, the narrow rigid leaves of E. stricta, and when
this character is taken into consideration the thought of connecting it with E. altior
(other than in the nature of the bark) is dismissed from the mind, and one wonders
whether it is, after all, only a white-barked form of E. stricta. This idea is also
dispensed with, for not more than 150 yards away, fringing Joadja Creek, E. stricta
is seen in profusion, and when a comparison is made, both species of E. stricta and
E. apiculata are found to be very dissimilar in habit and bark, and to some extent in
the leaves. A branch, 3 inches in diameter, was cut and showed a white timber
throughout.
Some of these specimens show the extreme difficulty, and perhaps impossibility,
of separating E. apiculata from E. stricta, except perhaps as a variety, owing to the