ON THE NORTH-AUSTRALlAlf EXPEDITION. 147 



distinguished as the Bottletree scrub, Delabecliea, Bauhinia and 

 Br achy chiton prevail, seemingly ruled by the presence of basalt, 

 conglomerate, or lime. 



3. The open downs of basaltic origin are in many instances 

 surrounded by the Brigalow, or are bordered by the desert. Except 

 along the watercourses, they are nearly destitute of trees, and for 

 the greater part of the year utterly devoid of water. The rich soil 

 readily absorbs the rain, and produces thus a luxuriant herbaceous 

 vegetation. Grasses are here, as stated before, abundant, and 

 cannot in their pastoral value be surpassed. Plants of the genera 

 Ahelmoschus, Hibiscus, Sida, Crotalaria, Seshania, Neptunia, Cu- 

 ctimis, Wedelia, Wollastonia, Spilanthes, Olossogyne, Bortulaca, 

 Qomphrena, Bimelea, Commelyna, Ccesia, Bulbine, &c. are con- 

 spicuous, and a marked increase of Composiice is perceptible in 

 those parts of this formation nearest to the eastern coast, where 

 also the occurrence of a new Verbena suggested the appellation 

 " Vervain plains " for a certain tract of this country. 



4: The desert is, according to the varied character of its sandy, 

 saline, or argillaceous soil, extremely changeable in its flora ; but 

 the generality of its plants agrees so well with the genera, and 

 even species, of the barren tracts of the south, as to render their 

 explication here unnecessary. Trianthema, Newcastelia, Micro^ 

 cassia, GoTnphrenaJPtilotus, and a few other desert plants seem not 

 to spread far southward. Acacia forests cover the rising ground. 



5. The sandstone table-land forms in its endless extent a land- 

 scape equally arid and cheerless. Eucalypti, often diminutive, some 

 with lamellar bark and brilliant orange and scarlet flowers, a dwarf 

 Thouinia, some Hibisci, Br achy chiton ramiflorum, Cochlospermum, 

 Dodoncece, Distichostemon, Corchorus, Owenia, Boronia, Zizyphus, 

 Buchanania, Terminalice, JacJcsonicd, Oxycladium, Nematophyllum, 

 Bossicea, Indigofera, Psoralea, Zornia, Atylosia, Erythrina Vesper- 

 tilio, Bauhinia Leichardtii, Laboiocheria (the leguminous Iron-bark 

 tree of Dr. Leichhardt), numerous Acacias, various species of Cal^- 

 cothrix and Melaleuca, Lhotzhya cuspidata, Verticordia Gunning- 

 hami, Xanthostemon paradoxus, Gardenia, Petalostigma, Sccevolce, 

 Goodenice, Sersalisia, Strychnos, Spathodea, many species of Helio- 

 tropium, Balfouria saligna, Gyrocarpus sphenopterus, Bei^soonia 

 falcata, Hakea arborescens, a considerable number of Grevilleas, 



and Santalum lanceolatum constitute, with the above-mentioned 

 Aristida, Triodia and Triraphis, its principal vegetation, Livistona 

 inermis gracing now and then its declivities. 



6. For the characteristics of the sea-coast we have principally to 



l2 



