246 



OUTLINE OF PLANT GEOGRAPHY 



elegans. Two other palms were seen near Babinda, a curious 

 fan-palm (Licnala Muelleri) and the pretty " walking-stick " 

 palm, Bacularia sp. 



Further north, in the York Peninsula, are several Indo-Malayan 

 genera, Caryota, Borassus, Areca, and others, which were not 

 seen in the Cairns district. Pitcher-plants of several species, 

 have also been described from the York Peninsula. 



A B 



Fig. 69. — Rain-forest, North Queensland, Australia. 



A. Young palms (Archontophoenix sp.). 



B. Edge of jungle, showing rattans and screw-pine. 



Back of the coast, at an elevation of 2,000 to 4,000 ft. is a 

 plateau which supports a fine forest, mostly of hard-woods, of great 

 value as timber. These forests are rapidly disappearing before the 

 inroads of the lumberman, but there are still accessible remnants 

 of the forest which show their character. This forest is developed 

 only on the rich basaltic and alluvial soils, the poorer sandy soils 

 being occupied by open forests of gums, as elsewhere in Australia. 



