106 VEGETATION OF THE DISTRICTS 
unlimited extent were placed before our eyes. At the same time in- 
deed, in consequence of slight volcanie elevations and the retrogression 
of the sea-products upon the alluvium, they support only salt-plants ;" 
but these perhaps in as large a number as the steppes near Lake Baikal, 
and for the most part belonging to peculiar species. (Kochia brachy- 
ptera, Eriochiton sclerolenoides, Osteocarpum salsuginosum, Anisacantha 
bicuspis, Blitum atriplicinum, Obione spongiosa, Atriplex Tandonis, etc.) 
Almost equally joyless is the aspect of the suddenly ascending range of 
hills, rugged as it appears with its jagged, often inaccessible, and often 
overhanging heights, and abrupt as are the declivities by which it sinks, 
—here projecting like masses of rock rent asunder, there forming iso- 
lated polished cones, but almost always without trees. "There are con- 
sequently wanting the means of growth for Palms, the labyrinth of para- 
sites, and the interminable contrast of large flowers displaying every 
variety of colour and of gigantic leaves with the more modest offspring 
of Flora, which constantly excite our admiration in the tropical world ; 
and there are wanting also, without compensation, the darkly beauti- 
ful Pine-forests of the colder climates, interrupted by leafy woods of 
shadowy Oaks and verdant Beeches ! 
These mountains, however, little exceed in height the southern 
hilly-chains of the Colony, and consequently do not develope even the 
commencement of a subalpine flora, such as may be expected in New 
Holland only from the yet unexplored Australian Alps, and such as is 
found in Southern Tasmania. Nevertheless there is found in the loose 
rubble, which piles itself up especially near the summits, a not inconsider- 
able number of plants, which seldom or never descend to the salt or 
stony plains. We sometimes perceive on the walls of rock the aromatic 
Eriostemon halmaturorum, a favourite food of the dwarf kangaroo, 
which bounds over the clefts of the rocks like a gazelle; sometimes 
we remark shrubs of Callistemon teretifolius, with filiform Hakea-like 
leaves, and adorned both with yellow and dark red flowers; and again 
the stately Trymalium phlebophyllum, accompanied by a few Ferns (No- 
tholena lasiopteris, and N. distans), or the beautiful Eurybia cardio- 
phylla, the thorny-leaved Daviesia notabilis, occasionally intermingled 
with common types, such as Senecio angustifolius, Veronica decora, In- 
digofera brevidens, Pultenea leptophylla, Phyllanthus saxosus, Hovea 
Beckeri, Sida petrophila, Sida pheotricha, Convolvulus crispifolius, Pi- 
melea petrophila, and Thysanotus exasperatus. 
