THE NORTH-AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION. 



165 



Prunus Lusitanica, again, which Mr. Lowe has stated to be only 

 found in gardens, is undoubtedly wild in Madeira. I have seen trees 

 in the rocks of the Curral, and I have been informed by the peasants 

 that there are trees growing high up amongst the mountains. 



I am, Sir, your very obedient servant, 



James Yate Johnson. 



i 



Notes made during the recent Expedition across the Northern Por- 

 tion of Australia, under the Command of Mr. Surveyor Gregory; 

 by Dr. Fr. Mueller, Colonial Botanist of Melbourne, and Botanist 



to the Expedition. 



Melbourne 



In the following lines I shall now endeavour to bring the principal 

 plants, seen during our journey from the Victoria River to the Gulf of 

 Carpentaria, and thence into the settlements, under your notice. The 

 country up the Victoria River yielded little additional to the collection, 

 as this was the third time I went up the River ; nor did the southern 

 part of Arrheim's Land, through which we forced our way over to the 

 Gulf-rivers, furnish many plants not seen before : but I may mention 

 some fine Psoralias, Ventilago racemosa, Catha Cunninghami, Stylidium 

 alsinoides, Lotus Australis, Alphitonia excelsa, a species of Camphoro- 

 myrtus, Lobelia dioica, a stemless Lsolepis, Lindernia subulata, a Pitto- 

 sporum with small, pear-shaped fruits, two species of Bergia (a third 



occurring 

 country. 



Ilydrolea 



unfrequent on the Gulf of Carpentaria, and one of the few plants in 

 the discovery of which I rejoice, the addition of Natural Orders to the 

 Australian Flora. The Stringy-bark-tree of this part of the country 

 differs from the southern species, and although a Eucalyptus, it pro- 

 duces, Angophora-\ike, a four-toothed calyx. Several other species of 

 this genus, all trees, were noticed, of which two are highly ornamental 

 in producing scarlet flowers and lamellar bark ; another m having a 

 double operculum. I found it necessary, for the sake of satisfactory 

 distinctions, to describe all the tropical Eucalypti (nearly thirty species), 

 on the spot, and I was never at a loss how to discriminate between 

 variety and species, by considering all the characters of the trees col- 

 lectively, and by paying due attention to the soil, habit, structure, and 



t 



