129 
On the Character of the SOUTH AUSTRALIAN FLORA in general ; by 
Dr. H. Benr. (Translated from the German in Schlechtendal’s 
* Linnea,’ Bd. xx. Heft 5 ; by Rtcuarp Kiprrsr, Libr. L. S.) 
The Flora of South Australia, and with it the physical character, may 
be divided into two widely separated forms, that of the Grass-land and 
that of the Serub. In the hill-country, and the plains lying to the 
westward of it, the grass-land prevails; yet so that extensive tracts, as 
well as small portions, of the other form of vegetation, likewise occur 
commonly enough. In the east, the Serub predominates to an extent 
that is only interrupted by the formation of the fertile grass-land in the 
flats (pastures) of the Murray, and in the marshes of the lower part of 
its course, together with those of its estuary. The grass-land resem- 
bles for the most part European pastures in its physical character, as 
do also the individual plants which constitute its turf resemble corre- 
sponding European ones. A rather thick meadow-carpet is the essen- 
tial characteristic of these regions, with which is associated in most 
cases a light park-like forest of gigantic Hucalypti, whose crowns, how- 
ever, are never in contact with each other. Their smooth stems, robbed 
of their outer bark, stand at measured, and often very regular intervals ; 
so that the idea involuntarily presents itself, that the whole must be the 
park of some landed proprietor, enthusiastically devoted to the quinc- 
unx of Cicero. Where the soil is poorer, Cusuarinas make their ap- 
pearance here and there, whose brown-green crowns contrast strangely 
in spring with the sap-green of the turf. They reach the height of 
twenty, or at most of thirty feet, and stand like twigs among the Eu- 
calypti. The gummiferous Acacias, retinoides and pycnantha, belong, 
likewise, to this form of vegetation. Acacia retinoides reaches the 
height of the Casuarinas, and grows in a more isolated manner; Acacia —— 
pycnantha is usually little above the height of a man, yet of a very de- — 
cided arborescent growth. It forms an umbrella-like crown, and often 
constitutes little forests. But few shrubby species occur, and only - 
where the poorer soil forms a transition to the Scrub vegetation. coe 
Among the commonest plants is Bursaria. 
One variety of the grass-land is the pit-land (“ Bay-of-Biscay-land ”), 
consisting of undulating plains or gently inclined slopes, which resemble 
a sea suddenly frozen during the beating of the waves. The depressions 
are pit-formed, and surrounded by circular elevations; yet, even in the- 
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