BY B. H. CAMBAGE. 649 



lanceolatum, Exocarpus ciipressiformis, Callitris robusta, Xerotes 

 longifolia, Cyperus fulvus, Lepidosperma laterale, Stipa verticil- 

 lata, S. scabra, Cheilanthes tenuifoUa. 



A species of some interest in regard to distribution, which is 

 growing on Barber's Pinnacle and other hills, and also near the 

 upper portion of Maule's Creek, is Alphitonia excelsa, the Red Ash 

 of the coastal district; and the little trees are easily identified by 

 the clusters of berry-like fruits, and leaves with an almost white 

 underside. The fact that this species will fl.ourish in the brush-lands 

 of the moist coast, in places where there is an annual rainfall of 

 50 inches, and also in the much drier west, where the rainfall is 

 reduced to about 24 inches annually, is evidence of its adaptability 

 to environment. 



It seems undoubted that this species has worked its way into 

 New South Wales from the north. It is recorded from several 

 islands oft' the north and north-east coast of Australia, amongst 

 others being Borneo, Celebes, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Hawaii 

 and Fiji,* and is known to occur in various portions of Eastern 

 Queensland ; but on coming into New South Wales, the cold heights 

 of the Main Divide have caused it to spread westwards towards 

 Boggabri on the one hand, and along the coastal eastern slopes on 

 the other, where it appears to reach its greatest southerly exten- 

 Bion. At the same time it is known to occur in various localities 

 in the Goulburn and Hunter River Valleys near the Liverpool 

 Range, and this range is sufficiently low in places to allow this 

 plant access to both sides. Its most southern point known to me 

 is Milton, where it is growing on a doleritic basalt formation, con- 

 taining under 55 % silica, wliile at Boggabri it is found on acid 

 rocks, some of which contain an abundance of free silica. 



Whether this S2:)ecies had the same range east and Avest, in this 

 State, prior to the final uplift in late Tertiary time, or has spread 

 along both sides of the Main Range since that period, there does 

 not appear to be at present definite evidence to show ; but consider- 

 ing the great similarity between the eastern and western forms, its 



•" The Montane Flora of Fiji," by Lilian S. Gibbs, F.L.S., Journ. Linn. 

 Soc. London, 1909, p. 143. 



