Dec..] Sutton, A Skelch of the Keilor Plains Flora. 121 



!0l6j 



The Casuarinas were undoubtedly more numerous in the 

 past, but, making good firewood, they have been freely cut 

 down, and now are mostly seen about the low hills, occasionally 

 in the gorges, and sparsely scattered over the plains. C. 

 quadrivalvis is commoner than C. suberosa, and C. Luehmannii 

 is confined to the western part of the area. 



Of the tree-forms of Acacia, A. pycnantha is on the granite 

 at Green vale. A. melanoxylon and A. implexa in the same 

 locality and also in the canyons. The latter is much the more 

 frequent, and usually occurs on the steep, rocky banks. A. 

 dealbata is not uncommon on some of the streams, and, strangely 

 i-nough. affects a rather dry situation on many of the basalt 

 " blows." 



Exocarpos cupyessiforntis is a constituent of the forest 

 invading the plains from the east and occasionally seeks 

 the shelter of the river-banks. An isolated specimen of 

 Bursaria spinosa has reached tree size, with a trunk diameter 

 of nearly 18 inches, near Point Cook, and one of Myoporum 

 insulare of about the same dimensions near Digger's Rest. 



Plants of the Canyons and Water-courses. 



As a consequence of shelter from sun and wind afforded 

 by the steep banks, greater moisture and more varied sub- 

 stratum, the vegetation on the rivers and creeks is much 

 more luxuriant and diversified. Trees and shrubs are numer- 

 ous, and frequently dense patches of scrub clothe the banks. 

 The Red Gum quite dominates the situation, never being out 

 of sight. In many dry creeks it is the only plant taller than 

 the grasses and low herbs, and no other tree disputes its right 

 to the water's edge. On the terraces, and chmbing the banks, 

 are occasional eucalypts of other species, and trees of lesser 

 growth, like Casuarina stricta. Acacia melanoxylon, A. implexa, 

 and Exocarpos ciipressiformis. Where water is permanent 

 Leptos perm urn lanigerum and Callistemon salignus often grow 

 together below the bank. The most assertive of the shrubs 

 is undoubtedly Hymenanthera Banksii. It is never or rarely 

 absent from any association, and frequently possesses long 

 stretches of the waterside with an attendant growth now of 

 Nicotiana suaveolens and Dichondra repens, and again merely 

 of Urtica incisa. It climbs the steepest banks, and, although 

 a lover of moisture, will venture some distance on the 

 plains. 



South of Keilor, on the right bank, it is absent, and here we 

 have Dodonaea, Myoporum deserti, Cassia (up to 7 feet high). 

 Acacia retinodes, and M uehlenbec kia Cunninghami (among 

 rocks), the first perhaps predominating. Only occasionally 

 Acacia implexa, A. dealbata, Bursaria, and Correa crop up in 



