Austral English Part 30

Box, Box-tree, Box-gum, n. The name is applied to many Eucalypts, and to a few trees of the genus Tristania, as given below, all of the N.O. Myrtaceae, chiefly from the qualities of their timber, which more or less resembles "Boxwood." Most of these trees also bear other vernacular names, and the same tree is further often described vernacularly as different kinds of Box. China-, Heath-, and Native-Box (q.v. below) are of other Natural Orders and receive their names of Box from other reasons. The following table is compiled from Maiden:--

b.a.s.t.a.r.d Box-- Eucalyptus goniocalyx, F. v. M.; E. largiflorens, F. v. M. (called also Cooburn); E. longifolia, Link.; E. microtheca, F. v. M.; E. polyanthema, F. v. M.; E. populifolia, Hook. (called also Bembil or Bimbil Box and Red Box); Tristania conferta, R. Br.; T. laurana, R. Br., all of the N.O. Myrtaceae.

Black Box-- Eucalyptus obliqua, L'Herit.; E. largiflorens, F. v. M.; E. microtheca, F. v. M.

Brisbane Box--- Tristania conferta, R. Br.

Broad-leaved Box-- Eucalyptus acmenoides, Schau.

Brown Box-- Eucalyptus polyanthema, Schau.

Brush Box-- Tristania conferta, R. Br.

China Box-- Murraya exotica, Linn., N.O. Rutaceae (not a tree, but a perfume plant, which is found also in India and China).

Dwarf, or Flooded Box-- Eucalyptus microtheca, F. v. M. (Also called Swamp Gum, from its habit of growing on land inundated during flood time. An aboriginal name for the same tree is goborro.)

Grey Box-- Eucalyptus goniocalyx, F. v. M.; E. hemiphloia, F. v. M.; E. largiflorens, F. v. M.; E. polyanthema, Schau.; E. saligna, Smith.

Gum-topped Box-- Eucalyptus hemiphloia, F. v. M.

Heath Box-- Alyxia buxifolia, R. Br., N.O. Apocyneae (called also Tonga-beanwood, owing to its scent)

Iron-bark Box-- Eucalyptus obliqua, L'Herit.

Narrow-leaved Box-- Eucalyptus microtheca, F. v. M.

Native Box-- Bursaria spinosa, Cav., N.O. Pittosporeae. (Called also Box-thorn and Native-Olive. It is not a timber-tree but a forage- plant. See quotation, 1889.)

Poplar Box-- Eucalyptus populifolia, Hook.

Red Box-- Eucalyptus populifolia, Hook.; E. polyanthema, Schau.; Tristania conferta, R. Br.

Thozet's Box-- Eucalyptus raveretiana, F. v. M.

White Box-- Eucalyptus hemiphloia, F. v. M.; E. odorata, Behr.; E. populifolia, Hook.; Tristania conferta, R. Br.

Yellow Box-- Eucalyptus hemiphloia, F. v. M.

E. largiflorens, F. v. M.

E. melliodora, A. Cunn.

1820. John Oxley, `Two Expeditions,' p. 126:

"The country continued open forest land for about three miles, the cypress and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d-box being the prevailing timber; of the former many were useful trees."

1838. T. L. Mitch.e.l.l, `Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 55:

"The small kind of tree ... which Mr. Oxley, I believe, terms the dwarf-box, grows only on plains subject to inundation ... . It may be observed, however, that all permanent waters are invariably surrounded by the `yarra.' These peculiarities are only ascertained after examining many a hopeless hollow, where grew the `goborro' only; and after I had found my sable guides eagerly scanning the `yarra' from afar, when in search of water, and condemning any view of the `goborro' as hopeless during that dry season."

[See Yarra, a tree.]

1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. ii. p. 6:

"Belts of open forest land, princ.i.p.ally composed of the box-tree of the colonists, a species of eucalyptus (in no respect resembling the box of Europe)."

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 15:

"The Honey-Eucalypt (Eucalyptus melliodora). This tree pa.s.ses by the very unapt vernacular name Yellow Box-tree, though no portion of it is yellow, not even its wood, and though the latter resembles the real boxwood in no way whatever. Its systematic specific name alludes to the odour of its flowers, like that of honey, and as the blossoms exude much nectar, like most eucalypts, sought by bees, it is proposed to call it the small-leaved Honey-Eucalypt, but the Latin name might as easily be conveyed to memory, with the advantage of its being a universal one, understood and used by all nations."

1881. A.C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 46:

"Poor country, covered with ti-tree, box, and iron-bark saplings, with here and there heavy timber growing on sour-looking ridges."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 7:

"The clumps of box-gums clinging together for sympathy."

1888. J. Howlett Ross, `Laureate of the Centaurs,' p. 41:

"Box shrubs which were not yet clothed with their creamy-white plumes (so like the English meadowsweet)."

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

p. 59:

"These spears are princ.i.p.ally made from a tall-growing box (one of the eucalypts) which often attains to an alt.i.tude of over 100 feet; it is indigenous to the north-western portion of the colony, and to Riverina; it has a fine wavy grain, consequently easily worked when in a green state. When well seasoned, however, it is nearly as hard as ebony."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 121:

"Native box is greedily eaten by sheep, but its th.o.r.n.y character preserves it from extinction upon sheep-runs: usually a small scrub, in congenial localities it developes into a small tree."

Box, n. See succeeding verb.

1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 67:

"Great care must of course be taken that no two flocks come into collision, for a `box,' as it is technically called, causes an infinity of trouble, which is the reason that the stations are so far apart."

Box, v. to mix together sheep that ought to be kept separate apparently from "to box" in the sense of to shut up in narrow limits (`O.E.D.' v. i. 5); then to shut up together and so confuse the cla.s.sification; then the sense of shutting up is lost and that of confusion remains.

1881. A.C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 253:

"All the mobs of different aged lambs which had been hitherto kept apart were boxed up together."

1889. Rolf Boldrewood, `Robbery under Arms,' p. 356:

"After they'd got out twenty or thirty they'd get boxed, like a new hand counting sheep, and have to begin all over again."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Colonial Reformer,' p. 84: