The names of the various Australian Gum-trees are as follows--_Austral English

Apple Gum, or Apple-scented Gum--

Eucalyptus stuartiana, F. v. M.

Bastard G.--

Eucalyptus gunnii, Hook.

Bastard Blue G.--

E. leucoxylon, F. v. M. (South Australia).

Bastard White G.--

E. gunnii, Hook. (South Australia);

E. radiata (Tasmania).

Black G.--

E. stellulata, Sieb.

Black-butted G.--

E. pillularis, Smith (Victoria);

E. regnans, F. v. M. (New South Wales).

See Blackbutt.

Blue G. [see also Blue-Gum]

E. botryoides, Smith (New South Wales);

E. diversicolor, F. v. M. [Karri];

E. globulus, Labill.;

E. goniocalyx, F. v. M.;

E. leucoxylon, F. v. M. (South Australia) [Ironbark];

E. saligna, Smith;

E. tereticornis, Smith;

E. viminalis, Labill. (West New South Wales).

Botany Bay G,--

E. resinifera, Smith.

Brittle G.--

E. haemastonza, Smith;

E. micrantha, Smith.

Brown G.--

E. robusta, Smith.

Cabbage G.--

E. sieberiana, F. v. M. (Braidwood, New South Wales).

Cider G.--

E. gunnii, Hook. (Tasmania).

Citron-scented G.--

E. maculata, Hook.

Creek G.--

E. rostrata, Schlecht (West New South Wales).

Curly White G.--

E. radiata (Tasmania).

Dark Red G.--

E. rostrata, Schlecht.

Desert G.--

E. eudesmoides, F. v. M. (Central Australia);

E. gracilis, F. v. M.

Drooping G.--

E. pauciflora, Sieb. (Drooping Gum in Tasmania is

E. risdoni, Hook., N.O. Myrtaceae; the tree is

peculiar to Tasmania);

E. viminalis, Labill. (New South Wales).

Flood, or Flooded G.--

E. gunnii, Hook. (Bombala, New South Wales);

E. microtheca, F. v. M. (Carpentaria and Central

Australia);

E. rostrata, Schlecht;

E. saligna, Smith;

E. tereticornis, Smith (New South Wales).

Fluted G.-

E. salubris, F. v. M.

Forest G.--

E. rostrata, Schlecht (South Australia).

Giant G.--

E. amygdalina, Labill.

Gimlet G.--

E. salubris, F. v. M.

Green G.--

E. stellulata, Sieb. (East Gippsland).

Grey G.--

E. crebra, F. v. M.;

E. goniocalyx, F. v. M. (New South Wales, east of

Dividing range);

E. punctata, De C. (South Coast of New South Wales);

E. raveretiana, F.v.M;

E. resinifera, Smith;

E. saligna, Smith (New South Wales);

E. tereticornis, Smith (New South Wales);

E. viminalis, Labill (Sydney);

Honey-scented G.--

E. melliodora, Cunn.

Iron G.--

E. raveretiana, F. v. M.

Lemon-scented, or Lemon G.--

E. citriodora, Hook. f.

Lead G.--

E. stellulata, Cunn.

Mallee G.--

E. dumosa (generally called simply Mallee, q.v.).

Mountain G.--

E. tereticornis, Smith (South New South Wales).

Mountain White G.--

E. pauciflora, Sieb. (Blue Mountains).

Nankeen G.--

E. populifolia, Hook. (Northern Australia).

Olive Green G.--

E. stellulata, Cunn. (Leichhardt's name).

Pale Red G.--

E. rostrata, Schlecht.

Peppermint G.--

E. viminalis, Labill.

Poplar-leaved G.--

E. polyanthema, Schau.

Red G.--

E. amygdalina, Labill. (Victoria);

E. calophylla, R. Br.;

E. gunnii, Hook. (Bombala);

E. melliodora, Cunn. (Victoria);

E. odorata, Behr (South Australia);

E. punctata, De C.;

E. resinifera, Smith;

E. rostrata, Schlecht;

E. stuartiana, F. v. M. (Tasmania);

E. tereticornis, Smith (New South Wales).

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. leucoxylon, 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. leucoxylon, 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 illustrate the

difficulty of assigning the vernacular names with absolute

accuracy to the multitudinous 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 associated 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 illustrate 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-butted, 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:

"Where now the hermit gum-tree stands on the plain's heart."

1864. J. S. Moore, `Spring Life Lyrics,' p. 114:

"Amid grand old gums, dark cedars and pines."

1873. A.Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. xiii. p. 209:

"The eternal gum-tree has become to me an Australian crest,

giving evidence of Australian ugliness. The gum-tree is

ubiquitous, and is not the loveliest, though neither is it by

any means the ugliest, of trees."

1877. F. v. Muller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 7:

"The vernacular name of gum-trees for the eucalypts is as

unaptly given as that of most others of our native plants,

on which popular appellations have been bestowed. Indeed our

wattles might far more appropriately be called gum-trees than

the eucalypts, because the former exude a real gum (in the

chemical meaning of the word); whereas the main exudation from

the stems and branches of all eucalypts hardens to a kino-like

substance, contains a large proportion of a particular tannin

(kino-tannic acid), and is to a great extent or entirely

soluble in alcohol, thus very different from genuine gum."

1884. R. L. A. Davies, `Poems and Literary Remains,' p. 176:

"Golden, 'mid a sunlit forest,

Stood the grand Titanic forms

Of the conquerors of storms;

Stood the gums, as if inspired,

Every branch and leaflet fired

With the glory of the sun,

In golden robes attired,

A grand priesthood of the sun."

1889. P. Beveridge, `Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina,'

p. 61:

"Nearly all the eucalyptus species exude gum, which the natives

utilise in the fabrication of their various weapons as

Europeans do glue. The myall and mimosa also exude gum; these

the natives prefer before all other kinds when obtainable, they

being less brittle and more adhesive than any of the others."

i891. `Guide to Zoological Gardens, Melbourne':

"This is an exact representation of the camps which were

scattered over the country not more than fifty years ago, and

inhabited by the original lords of the soil. The beautiful

she-oak and red-gum forest that used to clothe the slopes of

Royal Park was a very favourite camping-ground of theirs, as

the gum-tree was their most regular source of food supply. The

hollows of this tree contained the sleek and sleepy opossum,

waiting to be dragged forth to the light of day and despatched

by a blow on the head. It was to the honey-laden blossoms of

this tree that the noisy cockatoos and parrots used to flock.

Let the kangaroo be wary and waterfowl shy, but whilst he had

his beloved gum-tree, little cared the light-hearted black."

1892. `The Times,' [Reprint] `Letters from Queensland,' p. 2:

"The immense extent of gum-trees stretches indefinitely,

blotting out the conception of anything but its own

lightly-timbered pasture. It has not even the gloom and

impressiveness which we associate in England with the name

of forest land, for the trees are thinly scattered, their long

leaves hang vertically from the branches, and sunlight filters

through with sufficient force to promote the growth of the

tussocked grass beneath. The whole would be indescribably

commonplace, but that the vastness becomes at last by its own

force impressive."

The following quotations illustrate special uses of the word in

composition.

Apple Gum--

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 283:

"On the small flats the apple-gum grew."

Ibid. c. viii. p. 264:

"Another Eucalyptus with a scaly butt . . . but with smooth

upper trunk and cordate ovate leaves, which was also new to me;

we called it the Apple-gum."

Blue Gum--

1802. D.Collins, `Account of New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 235:

"The blue gum, she-oak, and cherry-tree of Port Jackson were

common here."

1832. J. Bischoff, `Van Diemen's Land,' p. 22:

"The Blue Gum is found in greater abundance; it is a

loose-grained heavy wood."

1851. James Mitchell, `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van

Diemen's Land,' p. 125:

"The name blue gum appears to have been derived from the bluish

gray colour of the whole plant in the earliest stages of its

growth, which is occasioned by a covering of dust or bloom

similar to that upon the sloe or damson."

1884. R. L. A. Davies, `Poems and Literary Remains,' p. 199:

"I love to see the blue gums stand Majestically tall;

The giants of our southern woods,

The loftiest of all."

Black-butted Gum--

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. II. c. viii. p. 236:

"One species . . . resembling strongly the black-butted gum."

Cable Gum--

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. II. c. iv.

p. 132:

"Cable-gum . . . like several stems twisted together, abundant

in interior."

Cider Gum (or Cider Tree)--

1830. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 119:

"That species of eucalyptus called the cider tree, from

its exuding a quantity of saccharine liquid resembling

molasses. Streaks of it were to be seen dripping down the bark

in various parts, which we tasted, and found very palatable.

The natives have a method at the proper season of grinding

holes in the tree, from which the sweet juice flows

plentifully, and is collected in a hole at the root. We saw

some of these covered up with a flat stone, doubtless to

prevent the wild animals from coming to drink it. When allowed

to remain some time, and to ferment, it settles into a coarse

sort of wine or cider, rather intoxicating."

Cinnamon Gum--

1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 19, p. 7, col. 1:

"A forest only fit for urban gnomes these twisted trunks. Here

are no straight and lofty trees, but sprawling cinnamon gums,

their skin an unpleasing livid red, pock-marked; saplings in

white and chilly grey, bleeding gum in ruddy stains, and

fire-black boles and stumps to throw the greenery into bright

relief."

Drooping Gum--

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. II. c. xii.

p. 387:

"The trees, which grew only in the valleys, were small kinds

of banksia, wattles and drooping gums."

Flooded Gum--

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 7:

"Large flooded gum-trees (but no casuarinas) at the low banks

of the lagoons."

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 quantities; 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."