BY A. A. HAMILTON. 479 



Dried capsules floated for a week, a thin glutinous coating keep- 

 ing them dry for several days. Of a number of seeds tested the 

 majority sank in a few hours, none remaining afloat 24 hours. 

 The seeds are compressed and when young are encircled by a 

 membraneous wing which is extremely fugacious, the mature 

 seeds rarely retaining more than a ragged fringe on their 

 border. The fugitive nature of the wing renders it valueless for 

 flight, and the flat, creeping growth-form of the plant, and its 

 customary domicile, are also opposed to this means of dispersal. 

 This species has been omitted by Bentham from the flora of 

 Xew South Wales,* though it is very common in our local salt- 

 marshes. 



Samolus repens, a slender floriferous perennial which extends 

 to New Zealand and New Caledonia, finds a refuge in depressions 

 in this zone which are too frequently submerged to permit of 

 their occupation by the Selliera and other carpet-forming species. 

 It spreads superficially by means of runners which root at in- 

 tervals and produce tufts of short stems, its rhizomatic systei/i 

 connecting the mature clumps subterraneously . The small plants 

 are somewhat frutescent and have thin, hard (sclerophyllous) 

 leaves, lustrous on the upper surface, an unusual occurrence in 

 this station. The extensive ramification of its root system is 

 a valuable provision for securing an anchorage in the mobile 

 mud. The Samolus, though exceptionally well equipped for such 

 a habitat, is a fugitive in this station and is only permitted 

 to occupy the spaces edaphically repugnant to the surrounding- 

 succulents. The largest colonies of this species noted were es- 

 tablished in a Salicornia meadow at Buffalo Creek on the Lane 

 Cove River. 



On the ocean headlands it is frequently associated with Lobelia 

 anceps clothing a rock ledge or invading a crevice, their weak 

 straggling stems, drawn and flaccid, appressed against the face 

 of the cliff, seeking shelter and support. The Lobelia is also 

 occasional in the saltmarsh but is unable to tolerate the harsh 

 conditions obtaining in the station occupied by its confrere, and 

 cannot advance further than the detritus heaps on the plain, its 

 frequent presence and sturdy growth in freshwater swamps in- 

 dicating the excessive soil salinity as the deterrent factor. The 

 Samolus is more partial to a muddy than a sandy soil and can- 



* Flora Austr., iv., p. 82. 



