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OK THE NOBTH-AUSTBALIaN EXPEDITION. 147 



distinguished as the Bottletree scrub, Delabechea, Bauhinia and 

 Brachychiton prevail, seemingly ruled by the presence of basalt, 

 conglomerate, or lime. 



3. The open downs of basaltic origin are in many instances 

 surrounded by the Brigalow, or are bordered by the desert. Except 

 along the watercourses, they are nearly destitute of trees*, and for 

 the greater part of the year utterly devoid of water. The rich soil 

 readily absorbs the rain, and produces thus a luxuriant herbaceous 

 vegetation. Grasses are here, as stated before, abundant, and 

 cannot in their pastoral value be surpassed. Plants of the genera 

 AhehnoschuSy Hibiscus, Sida, Crotalaria, Sesbania, Neptuniaj Chi- 

 cwnis, Wedelia^ W6ll<istonia^ Spilanthes, QlossogyTiey Bortulaca^ 

 GompTtrena, Pimelea, Commelyna, Ckdsia^ Bulbine, &c. are con- 

 spicuous, and a marked increase of Composited is perceptible in 

 those parts of this formation nearest to the eastern coast, where 

 Also the occurrence of a new Verbena suggested the appellation 

 " Vervain plains *' for a certain tract of this country. 



4. The desert is, according to the varied character of its sandy, 

 saline, or argillaceous soil, extremely changeable in its flora ; but 

 the generality of its plants agrees so well with the genera, and 

 even species, of the barren tracts of the south, as to render their 

 explication here unnecessary. Trianthema^ Newcasteliay Micro- 

 casHa^ Oomphrena, Ptilotus^ and a few other desert plants seem not 

 to spread far southward. Acacia forests cover the rising ground. 



5. The sandstone table-land forms in its endless extent a laud- 

 ' scape equally arid and cheerless. Eucalypti^ often diminutive, some 



With lamellar bark and brilliant orange and scarlet flowers, a dwarf . 

 Thouinia^ some Hibisci, BrachycMton ramiflorum^ Cochlospermum, 

 I>odon<e<e^ Distichostemon, CorcTiorm, Owenia, Boronia, ZizypJius, 

 ^ucTianania^ Te^^minalice, Jacksonice^ Osycladium, l^ematopliyllumy 

 Sossicea, Indigofera, Psoralea, Zo^^nia, Atylosia, Eryfhrina Vesper- 

 \^;,: tilio^ Bauhinia Leichardtii, Laboucheria (the leguminous Iron-bark 



tree of Dr, Leichhardt), numerous Acacias, various species of Caly- 



cothriv and Melaleuca, Lhotzkya cuspidata^ Veriicordia Cunning- 



*<wi*, Xanthostemon paradoxus, Gardenia, Fetalostigma, Sccevolce, 



^odenuff, Sersalisia, Strychnos, Spathodm^ many species of Helio- 



f^opium, Balfouria saligna, Oyrocarpus sphenopterus, Persoonia 



folcata, Hakea arborescens, a considerable number of Grevilleas, 



^^ Santalum lanceolatum constitute, with the above-mentioned 



^ristida, Triodia and Triraphis, its principal vegetation, Livistona 



***^^»f gracing now and then its declivities. i 



6. Per the characteristics of the sea-coast we have principally to 



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