OF THE INTERIOR OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 175 
and Goodenia mimuloides, the latter new), Amaranthacer, &c., 
came into flower. But the chief honours of this spring vegetation 
are won by lowly Composite of the tribe Helichysese. Some of 
these cover large spaces of ground literally in sheets —now ye!low 
(Waitzia corymbosa, Wendl., Helipterum Haighii, F. Muell.), 
now white (Helipterum rubellum, Benth. and Fitzgibboni, F. 
Muell., Cephalipterum Drummondii, A. Gray) or pink (Schenia 
Cassiniana, Steetz) ; while in the neighbourhood of granite out- 
crops the white or pink Helipterum Manglesii, F. Muell., and the 
yellow Podolepis pallida, Turcz., and Helichrysum semipapposum, 
DC., are conspicuous at this time of year. This wealth of 
colour is, however, of but short duration ; daily the sun mounts 
higher in the heavens and all lowly vegetation dries up and 
vanishes, so that by the end of October the ground has become 
bare as a monli's tonsure, and you wonder how anything herba- 
ceous could have contrived to exist there. 
One point has been left unnoticed, namely, the occurrence of 
the so-called “ Spinifex " (Triodia irritans, R. Br.). This is not 
met with in any quantity south of Mount Margaret, but further 
north one passes stretches of country of which it is a prominent 
feature. I saw nothing suggestive of the term “ spinifex desert ” 
which one finds printed on the maps; for after, at most, a few 
miles of * spinifex," the “bush” reappears. What there may 
be still further north and north-east, of course I cannot say; 
but there seem to be grounds for doubting whether any very 
large and continuous area of which the “spinifex” is the 
characteristic plaut exists in the interior of the Colony. Never- 
theless, its frequency in the north, when we bear in mind the 
comparative rarity of its occurrence south of the thirtieth 
parallel, is a matter worthy of remark. 
It has already been stated that spring is the time of flowering 
for the herbaceous vegetation, and to a large extent this is true 
of the shrubs and trees also. Some of the latter, however, put 
forth their flowers at other times of the year; while a few, such 
as the Quandong and Scevola spinescens, R. Br., will flower 
almost the whole year round. In the moister coast-regiou, 
likewise, most of the plants are spring or early summer flowerers *, 
* In his essay on the Australian Flora (Flora of Tasmania, Introd. Essay, 
p. xxix), Sir Joseph Hooker combats the then prevalent idea that the vegetation 
of the island-continent is entirely without analogy in other parts of the world. 
Among other arguments advanced in support of his contention, we find it 
