1 16 DE. F. MUELLER ON AUSTRALTAIf ACACIJE. 



The section Brachybotryae is not well represented in the tropics. 

 We observed of it, in Mr. G-regory'a expedition, only two new 

 species, — one with winged fruit, the other an Acacia from N."W. 

 Australia, mentioned by Mr. Bentham under A. melanoxylon as 

 imperfectly known from Cunningham's collection, and of w^hich a 

 full description will be found in the accompanying pages. Both 

 show the rather unusual character amongst phyllodineous Acacice^ 

 of being deprived of the strophiolum. A. complanata and A. venulosa 

 are not found beyond the warmer parts of East Australia. Unless 

 imperfect specimens misled me in judging, I may pronounce that 

 A. pendula and A. sclerophylla extend through Central Australia 

 to Arnhem's Land, where A. translucens was likewise noticed. We 

 possess a common desert-plant in South Australia and Australia 

 Eelix, enumerated in the ' Linnsea ' (1856) as A. elongata ; it seems 

 to me not identical with the Blue Mountain plant, which I have 

 compared, but rather to belong to A. viscidula. A. multinervia 

 is found rarely in this colony ; but quite common is A. iKMnalophyllay 

 from Lake Torrens to the Darling and Murray, where A. steno- 

 phylla likewise occurs. In a retrospective view it will be seen 

 that 64 well-marked species alone occur in the collections of the 

 North Australian Expedition, of which, after a patient scrutiny, I 

 am obliged to admit 33 as new. By a further addition of some 

 unpublished extratropical kinds, already contained in my former 

 collections, the number of Australian Acacias becomes advanced 

 to beyond 300, notwithstanding that some reductions of former 

 species have been effected on this occasion. Most singular is 

 the vast preponderance of Juliferce in N. Australia, being nearly 

 equal in number to those of all other sections collectively. Only 

 4 desert-species traverse Australia from south to north ; and 8 

 only have hitherto been traced from Western Australia into 

 the south-eastern portion of this continent. If, on the contrary, 

 I rightly unite Acacia cuspidata with A. diffusa, not one of the 

 Tasmanian species shows itself restricted to that island, except 

 A, axillaris. 



Mr. Gregory observes that no pinnate-leaved Acacia is harboured 

 by the interior of West Australia. 



Series I. Phyllodinece. 

 § 1. AphyllfB. 



1. Acacia spinescens, Bth. in Hook. Lond. Journ. of Bot. i. p. 322, 



pi. 2. 

 Ad sinum Spencer's Gulf, C. Wilhelmi. Ad sinum St. Vincent's Gulf, 



prope montes Barossa Range. Ad flumen Onkaparinga. 



