Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

by Edward Ellis Morris

<i>Weeping Gum</i>—

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

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

<i>White Gum</i>—

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."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 471:

"<i>E. leucoxylon</i>, F. v. M. The `blue or white gum' of South Australia and Victoria is a gum-tree with smooth bark and light-coloured wood (hence the specific name). The flowers and fruit of <i>E. leucoxylon</i> are very similar to those of <i>E. sideroxylon</i>, and in this way two trees have been placed under one name which are really quite distinct. Baron Mueller points out that there are two well-marked varieties of <i>E. leucoxylon</i> in Victoria. That known as `white-gum' has the greater portion of the stem pale and smooth through the outer layers of the bark falling off. The variety known chiefly as the `Victorian Ironbark,' retains the whole bark on the stem, thus becoming deeply fissured and furrowed, and very hard and dark coloured."