THE SOUTH TEMPERATE ZONE 



spread Malayan types, like the figs, Bcrew-pines, palm-, arums, 

 and many epiphytic ferns and orchids. The Malayan character 

 of the flora is especially marked in the northernmost region, the 

 York Peninsula, which has many genera absent from the rest of 

 Australia, like the pitcher plants (Nepenthes), and palms of the 

 genera Caryota, Borassus and Areca. 



As one travels southward, beyond the tropics, one still meet 

 considerable number of the Malayan rain-forest species where the 

 conditions of soil and moisture are favorable, but these gradually 

 disappear, and are replaced by more strictly Australian typ< 9. 



Among the most notable of Australian trees arc the conifers of 

 the genus Araucaria. The finest is A. Bidwittii, the "Bunya- 

 pine," of southeastern Queensland, where in one district it form- 

 forests of considerable extent. A more wide-spread species is .1 

 Cunninghamii, which is very abundant along parts of the Queens- 

 land coast, forming pure stands, like some of the pines and spruces 

 of the Pacific coast of North America. 



Other species occur in some of the adjacent islands, New Cale- 

 donia and Norfolk Island. The Norfolk Island pine (A. excel 

 is the most familiar. Two South American species are the only 

 others known to science. 



The coastal region of New South Wales shows much the same 

 type of vegetation as southern Queensland; but the tropical types 

 become less abundant and there is an increasing number of such 

 true Australian genera as Acacia and Eucalyptus. The rain-forest , 

 however, still has a decidedly tropical aspect, with tall palms, 

 tree-ferns, and lianas. 



Away from the coast, and wherever the soil is poor, the dense 

 rain-forest is replaced by open Eucalpytus-foresl with an under- 

 growth composed of a great variety of smaller trees and shrubs, 

 all more or less decidedly xerophytic in character. Herbaceous 

 plants are not very abundant, but there are a good many grass - 

 and sedges, and numerous bulbous and tuberous species including 

 many showy orchids and Liliaceae, which with the profusion of 

 showy flowered shrubs, make a magnificent show in the spring. 

 Many species of Eucalyptus, Leptospermum, Melaleuca. ( al- 

 listemon, often seen in cultivation, as well as other- [ess familiar, 

 represent the myrtle family; while the Leguminosae are even 

 more abundant, and comprise a host of showy species. Of th< 



