I.
Box-tree
Box-gum
,n.
The name is applied to many Eucalypts, and toa few trees of the genus Tristania, as given below, allof the N.O. Myrtaceae, chiefly from the qualities oftheir timber, which more or less resembles «Boxwood.» Most ofthese trees also bear other vernacular names, and the same treeis 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 compiledfrom Maiden: – – Bastard 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 Indiaand China).
♣ Dwarf, or Flooded Box – – Eucalyptus microtheca,F. v. M. (Also called Swamp Gum, from its habit of growing onland inundated during flood time. An aboriginal name for thesame 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 bastard-box being the prevailing timber;of the former many were useful trees.»
1838. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 55:
«The small kind of tree . . . which Mr. Oxley, I believe, termsthe dwarf-box, grows only on plains subject to inundation. . . . It may be observed, however, that all permanent watersare invariably surrounded by the `yarra.' These peculiaritiesare only ascertained after examining many a hopeless hollow,where grew the `goborro' only; and after I had found my sableguides eagerly scanning the `yarra' from afar, when in searchof water, and condemning any view of the `goborro' as hopelessduring that dry season.»
[See Yarra, a tree.]
1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. ii. p. 6:
«Belts of open forest land, principally composed of the box-tree of the colonists, a species of eucalyptus (in norespect resembling the box of Europe).»
1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 15:
«The Honey-Eucalypt ( Eucalyptus melliodora). This treepasses by the very unapt vernacular name Yellow Box-tree,though no portion of it is yellow, not even its wood, andthough the latter resembles the real boxwood in no waywhatever. Its systematic specific name alludes to the odour ofits flowers, like that of honey, and as the blossoms exude muchnectar, like most eucalypts, sought by bees, it is proposed tocall it the small-leaved Honey-Eucalypt, but the Latin namemight as easily be conveyed to memory, with the advantage ofits 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-barksaplings, with here and there heavy timber growing onsour-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-whiteplumes (so like the English meadowsweet).»
1889. P. Beveridge, `Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina,'p. 59:
«These spears are principally made from a tall-growing box (oneof the eucalypts) which often attains to an altitude of over100 feet; it is indigenous to the north-western portion of thecolony, and to Riverina; it has a fine wavy grain, consequentlyeasily 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 thornycharacter preserves it from extinction upon sheep-runs: usuallya small scrub, in congenial localities it developes into asmall tree.»
II.
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 comeinto collision, for a `box,' as it is technically called,causes an infinity of trouble, which is the reason that thestations are so far apart.»
III.
v.
to mix together sheep that ought to bekept separate apparently from «to box» in the sense of to shutup in narrow limits (`O.E.D.' v. i. 5); then to shut uptogether and so confuse the classification; then the sense ofshutting 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 hithertokept 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 anew hand counting sheep, and have to begin all over again.»
1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Colonial Reformer,' p. 84:
«At nightfall, the fifteen flocks of sheep were all brought in,and `boxed,' or mixed together, to Ernest's astonishment.»
1890. Tasma, `In her Earliest Youth,' p. 166:
«He must keep tally when the sheep are being counted ordraughted, I'm not sure which, and swear – – no, he needn'tswear – – when they get boxed.»
1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 54:
«But the travelling sheep and the Wilga sheep were boxed on the Old Man Plain.
'Twas a full week's work ere they drafted out and hunted them off again.»