198 THE NORTH-AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION. 



in t Australia, and since it introduces some entirely new features into the 

 family. For remarkable appeared to me a genus of the Trichileous sec- 

 tion with drupaceous fruit, to which I have no doubt the Fusanus with 

 pinnate leaves, spoken of by the unfortunate Leichhardt, must be re- 



• ferred, Four species are described in the now transmitted pages ; a 

 fifth sp. (vemicosa) is common on the sandstone table-land of the Vic- 

 toria Elver, and I think a sixth species occurs in Central Australia, in 

 the desert scrub. This genus, after having been confirmed by you, I 

 ardently wished, as one of the finest resulting from this expedition, to 

 dedicate to Professor Owen, faint as this token may be of my venera- 

 tion for the illustrious zoologist. In another genus, with long unilate- 

 rally-slit columna, allied to Quirisia and Turrcea, I wished to acknow- 



• ledge the contribution of many botanical specimens to the collection by 

 our amiable travelling-companion Mr. J. 11. Elsey, the surgeon and 

 zoologist of the Expedition. Notable in this Order is also a very marked 

 Hartiglisea, next to H. excelsa, obtained in a conjoint trip with Mr. 

 Hill to the upper parts of the Brisbane River, whose name 1 wished it 

 to bear ; and a second Azadiraclita, unfortunately only seen in fruit, 

 which however so far exactly agrees in generic characters with the In- 

 dian prototype Melia Azedarach, or, if you like, M. Australia, Sweet 

 (M. Australasica, Juss.) is scattered throughout the tropics. 



Reviewing Sterculiacece, I find that Sterculia quadrifida, R. Br., 

 occurs in Arnheim's Land and eastern subtropical Australia; that Bra- 

 chychiton diversifolium is restricted to North and North-western A us- 



f 



tralia, where B. populneum does not occur; that B. platanoides, R. Br., 

 rauges from eastern subtropical Australia to the Gulf of Carpentaria, 

 whilst B. ramifiorum, 11. Br., is common through the tropical zone. 

 Sterculia foetida, enumerated by R. Br. in his excellent paper in Horsf. 

 and Benn. PL Ear. Jav., as also inhabiting Northern Australia, has not 

 been seen by us, nor Brachjchiton incanum found on the north shore, 

 unless a plant which I ventured to describe as B. discolor, upon rather 

 insufficient material, a forest tree of the Richmond and Clarence rivers 

 (New South "Wales), should prove identical with it, which cannot be 

 decided without consulting Cunningham's herbarium. I send you 





o — *» 



also a diagnosis of the Flame-tree of Illawara {Brachychiton acerifo- 

 Hum, Sterculia acerifolia, A. C. in Loud. Hort. Brit. p. 392), B. luridus % 

 C. Moore,and B. pubescens, C. Moore, all three not contained in R. Brown's 

 monograph. If the direction of the radicula is at all of any value in 

 the distinction of Sterculiaceous genera, then I caunot agree with the 



