THE PLANT WORLD 175 



value, immense specimens of red gum and apple trees, on the northern 

 river flats, mark the course of the stream; while on the ridges and 

 mountain sides, other species predominate, such as the white or she- 

 ironbark, narrow-leaved ironbark, broad-leaved ironbark, mugga or red 

 ironbark, blackbutt, white mahoganj^, tallow-wood, spotted gum, grey 

 box, red mahogany, grey gum, forest red gum, and Sydney blue gum. 

 Neither must turpentine, one of the most beautiful trees of the State, 

 nor the brush box of the northern rivers, a tree much in request for 

 ornamental purposes, be forgotten. The brush forests cover a large 

 extent of country along the coast. The trees found in them differ en- 

 tirely from those of the open forests, and there is no lack of variety 

 either in the character of the trees or the color of their foliage. Tall, 

 graceful fern trees, sometimes attaining a height of sixty feet, beautiful 

 species of palms, cabbage trees, and Moreton Bay figs of enormous pro- 

 portions are prominent features of the northern brushes, though these 

 are perhaps more ornamental than useful. There are, however, found 

 in the brush forests timber trees of the greatest value. Among these 

 may be mentioned the red cedar and its close allies, rosewood and red 

 bean, three of the most valuable woods of the State; beech, a valuable, 

 little shrinking wood, now getting scarce; colonial or hoop pine, a soft 

 wood, not of the best quality; brown or berry pine, which resists white 

 ants and other timber pests in a marked degree. Besides the timbers 

 mentioned, there are worthy of note the silky oak, the red silky oak or 

 beefwood, tulipwood, flindosa or cudgerie, native teak, blueberry ash, 

 maiden's blush, red ash, corkwood, and many others too numerous to 

 mention. The character of the vegetation of the brush forests alters 

 considerably according to the latitude. The trees of the genera Araii- 

 caria and Flindersia, as well as cedar and its allies, find a home chiefly 

 in the northern parts of the State, while many of the trees gro^^dng in 

 the south have no representatives in the northern forests. The soil of 

 the brush lands is wonderfully fertile, consisting as it does of decom- 

 posed volcanic rocks, enriched by the accumulation of decayed vege- 

 table matter, and when cleared it yields an abundant return. The 

 scrub forests are found in the poor soils, principally in the Lachlan and 

 Darling districts. The chief genera represented are the pines, and 

 multitudinous species of acacia and eucalyptus; but although some of 

 the trees are of great beauty, they have little commercial value. The 

 most uninviting portion of the State is covered Avith scrub, and the mal- 

 lee districts, clothed as they are A\dth stunted timber — species of euca- 

 lyptus — impress the traveler more unfavorably than would even a bar- 

 ren waste. The varying character of the forest country in New South 

 Wales readily explains the conflicting accounts of visitors, each of 

 whom simply describes what he saw, accepting it as representing the 

 whole. — John Plummer, in Forest Leaves for August, 1901, 



