REINSTATEMENT OF ERIOSTEMON-BANKSII (RUTACEAE), WITH A REPORT ON THE COMPOSITION OF LEAF ESSENTIAL OILS IN E-BANKSII AND E-AUSTRALASIUS S. STR

Eriostemon banksii A. Cunn. ex Endl., currently recognised as a subspe cies of E. australasius Pers., is reinstated at specific level. Charac ters that distinguish it from E. australasius include: distinctly 5-ne rved leaves, non-imbricate bracteoles, beaked fruit, anthers that lack a white apiculum and white petals. A preliminary investigation of lea f essential oils in E. banksii and E. australasius is also presented. Extracts of E. banksii contained both cis and trans-methyl-4-isoprenox ycinnamate, which were absent in E. australasius. Extracts of E. banks ii contained proportionally more beta-elemene (7.2-8.1%), beta-caryoph yllene (7.7-8.4%) and an unknown sesquiterpene hydrocarbon (12.3-15.1% ), and proportionally less a-pinene (2.8-8.3%), beta-pinene (0.2-0.8%) and limonene (0.4-0.5%) when compared with E. australasius (0.3-0.4%, 0.6%; 0.1%, 9.5-18.0%, 7.4-15.2%, and 1.2-7.8% respectively).