Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 12.djvu/683

Rh unexpanded flower-bud, being cup-like below and cone-like at top, was not dissimilar in form to the globular brass button formerly in vogue, and so the blue-gum received from this botanist the specific name globulus.



"One tree of the future one of hope," says Prof. Flückiger, "may be recognized in Eucalyptus globulus." And the prophecy is advancing to fulfillment, for already the eucalypt is becoming a cosmopolitan tree. It was discovered by La Billardière on the south of the island of Tasmania, near Entrecastenaux Channel, May 6, 1792, But, though soon after known to science, not until 1856 was it known to the arboriculturists of the Old World. In that year M. Ramel sent seeds from Melbourne to Paris. In 1857, and again in 1860, larger supplies arrived, which, being distributed, found their way over a great part of the civilized world. Of the many varieties of eucalypts, the blue-gum, or Eucalyptus globulus, was the first to be introduced into Europe; hence, perhaps, it may yet appear that the best variety for acclimatization has not received proper attention. The Eucalyptus globulus is only found in Tasmania and Victoria, but where found it is really the monopolist of the woods. The forest area of Victoria, the most southern colony of Australia, contains 73,000 square miles of forest, of which 71,500 is almost wholly of eucalypts. And so great is the diversity of these trees among themselves, that some one hundred and fifty varieties are recognized. This gave marked interest to the exhibits of the Australian colonies and Tasmania in the Philadelphia Exposition. But to the student of human progress a noteworthy fact was, that this Eucalyptus figured in the contributions of nations to whom the seed even was unknown twenty years ago. Eucalyptus woods, leaves, oils, essences, gums, etc., formed items in the exhibits from the south and the north of Africa,