C. H. Ostenfeld: Contributions to West Australian Botany. II. H 



From Carnarvon we have .a description of the dune-vege- 

 tation by Diels (1. c, p. 292) which agrees well with what I saw 

 (see Plate II, Fig. 2). The common shrubs were Scholtzia leptantha, 

 Acacia spodiosperma (bright green), A.coriacea (silver-grey), Atri- 

 plex rhagodioides, Rhagodia baccata, Brachycome latisquamea and the 

 more herbaceous Pityrodia petiolaris, and some species not in flower. 



In contrast to the salt-pan plants, the dune plants show their 

 xeromorphy in leathery and glossy leaves, in rolled leaves (the 

 grasses), and in densely clothed (felty) leaves, not in succulent 

 leaves nor in aphylly. 



5. The Savannah Forest Formation. 



During my short visits at the ports of the tropical W. A. 

 I met only one non-halophilous plant-formation, viz. the savannah 

 forest at Derby and (in poorer appearance) at Broome. At 

 the latter place I saw only what was left of it inside the area 

 covered by the township itself, and it was mixed up with intro- 

 duced species. 



The indigenous woody plants noted at Broome were Gyro- 

 carpus americanus (var. acuminatum), Bauhinia Cunninghamii, Ca- 

 rissa lanceolata, Eucalyptus clavigera (var. Dallachyana ?), E. di- 

 chromophloia and the low shrub Psoralea Martini, while the few 

 Adansonia's (A. Gregor ii) were said to have been planted. Amongst 

 the foreign plants Poinciana regia was the most conspicuous, but 

 in gardens (often artificially watered) grew Nerium Oleander, Cocos 

 sp., Bambusa sp., Vinca rosea etc. 



The savannah forest at Derby was more undisturbed by 

 man, still it was not quite virgin. I saw it at a time of the 

 year when the herbaceous undergrowth had quite disappeared 

 owing to the drought. Had I come a few weeks later, when the 

 rain had begun, I should also have been able to study the herbs 

 and grasses. Now only some withered straw and leaves remin- 

 ded one of the existence of an undergrowth which at times covers 

 the fine red dusty soil. I was forced to content myself with 

 observing the trees and shrubs alone. 



More prominent than anything else was the big Adansonia 

 Gregorii with its grotesque thick trunk, which has gained it the 

 popular name of "The Gouty Stem" (Plate III, Fig. 2). In the 

 first days of November the trees were mostly leafless, and orna- 

 mented only by masses of ripe fruits, but some had new leaves 

 — at least on parts of their crowns — and had just begun 

 flowering; the shedding of the leaves is thus not coincident in all 



