241 



July 4'th. — Accompanied Capt. Logan to examine a forest 

 on the banks of a stream called Breakfast Creek, three miles 

 north-west of Brisbane Town, noted for its gigantic timber, 

 and the vast variety of its plants. In this interesting forest 

 I observed several species of Ficus, upwards of 150 feet high, 

 enclosing immense Iron Bark Trees, on which, originally, 

 the seeds of these Fig trees had been deposited by birds. Here 

 they had immediately vegetated, and thrown out their para- 

 sitical and rapacious roots, which adhering close to the bark 

 of the Iron Tree, had followed the course of its stem down- 

 wards to the earth, where, once arrived, their progress of 

 growth is truly astonishing. The roots of the Ficus then 

 increase rapidly in number, envelope the Iron Bark, and send 

 out, at the same time, such gigantic branches, that it is not 

 unusual to see the original tree, at a height of TO or 80 

 feet, peeping through the Fig, as if itself were the parasite 

 on the real intruder. 



In the singular angles, or Walls, as they are here termed, 

 which are formed by the roots of these trees, and of which I 

 observed many sixteen feet high, there is room enough to 

 dine half-a-dozen persons. The fruit is eagerly sought by 

 Regent Birds, {Sericulus chi-ysocejjhalus,) Blue Pigeons, and 

 Swamp Pheasants [Cuculus Phasianus,) and the spreading 

 and massy boughs support a number of superb parasitical 

 plants. 



This forest abounds in Urtica Gigas, as well as in an un- 

 published and most interesting new plant,* producing fruit 



* CASTANOSPERMUM AUSTRALE. 



Decandria Monogynia. Nat. Ord, LECuMiNosiE. 



Div. Cassie^e? De Cand. 



Gen. Char. Castanospermum. Cunningham, Cal. coloratus, subilabiatus, 

 brevi-tubulosus, labio superiore bifido, inferiore trifido. Pet. 5, papilionacea, 

 alis carinaque suba;qualibus. Stam. 10, libera. Gcrmcn longe stipitatuin. 

 Leyumen stipitatuni, grossum, oblongo-cylindraceum, bivalve, subtetrasper- 

 mum : valvi3 coriaceis intus spongiosis. Arbor procera. Folia impari- 

 pinnata. Racemi laterales, suhcompositi. 



C. australe. Cuymingham et Frascr, MSS. — (Tab. LI. LII.) 



