IMS 



OUTLINE OF PLANT GEOGRAPHY 



The upland forest has fewer lianas and less dense undergrowth 

 than the coastal rain-forest, but the trees are much finer, being 

 wry tall with straight clear trunks, sometimes of great size, 

 5 to 10 feel in diameter in the case of the Kauri (Agathis Pal- 

 merstoni) and the " red-cedar" (Cedrela toona). Trees known 

 locally as "beech," "maple," "hickory," etc., are not even 

 remotely related to their northern namesakes. They are mostly 





*MT 



\f' v 



""^^pe^ 





Fig. 70. — A. Staghorn fern (Platycerium grande,) botanical garden, Brisbane. 

 B. Giant fig (Ficus sp.), North Queensland. 



species of Flindersia, a genus usually placed in the mahogany 

 family (Meliaceae). Many of the large trees have extensive 

 buttresses at the base, a very common feature in the larger 

 trees of tropical forests. 



In the Queensland "scrubs," the local name for the rain-for- 

 est, are a number of fine trees belonging to the peculiar family 

 Proteaceae, developed to an extraordinary degree throughout 

 Australia. One of these, Grevillea robusta, is not uncommon 

 in cultivation in California. Other genera are Embothrium 

 and Stenocarpus. 



