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NOTES ON THE INDIGENOUS PJ.AXTS IN THE 

 COJiAH DISTRICT. 



Bv AuciiiiicAcoN F. E. Havilanu. 



The followiiiir notes deal witli plants collected as indiffenoiis in 

 the Cobar district, specimens of most of which are in my collec- 

 tion at Cobar. 



The district (for my purpose) may be regarded as conijirisingan 

 area of 6,000 s(juare miles, and is contained within a radius of 

 50 miles from Cobai- as centre. The physical featui'es of this 

 district comprise red ironstone, red sandstone, quartzite, and soft 

 red soil, with many entii-e patches wind-swept, leaA'ing the arid 

 subsoil with here and there outcrops of I'ock. The general aspect 

 of the country is Hat, but occasionally hills of more or less pro- 

 minence rise somewhat suddenly. 



These divergent geological conditions, to a certain extent, 

 account for the very local habitats of certain species. Hence we 

 get to hear of .some parts being called "Yai-ren Flats," "Salt-bush 

 Countiy," '• Mulga Country." Yet there are proI)lems in the 

 matter of distribution to be solved; for while, for instance. Pro- 

 Ntcuithera Leichhardtii, a newly recorded species for New South 

 Wales, has been noted as occurring only on The Peak, a quartzite 

 elevation riddled Ijy fossickers; it is not found on hills of similar 

 formation only a few miles distant. Then, again, I find many of the 

 smaller plants, whose natural habitat would be on the tl;its, growing 

 very well on the highest ridges, and can only account for their 

 presence by the very heavy dust-storms, so characteristic of these 

 parts, carrying up the seed, w^hich thus becomes automatically 

 planted on tlie ridges, and in its own soil also thus carried there. 



Such apparent anomalies as these may seem to intensify the 

 difficulty of establishing certain fixed theories of plant-flistiibution; 

 yet, I believe there is a rea.son for everything, and further explora- 

 tions may ncjt only clear up these anomalies, but even conlirm the 

 most exacting hopes of the tabulating theorist. 



I must confe.ss to having found a very real ditKculty in arriving 

 at the correct determination of some of the larger species, and 



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