IV APPENDIX. 



kins, Indian wheat, &c. intermixed with fine pasture land. 

 The sandy soil is covered with coarse herbage, on which 

 cattle thrive remarkably well ; on the good soil, about sixteen 

 kinds of grasses are met with, amongst which anthistiria 

 australis, the kangaroo grass, is conspicuous. The gardens 

 furnish most kinds of edible vegetables in great abundance ; 

 some of which ma}^ be obtained at all seasons. Amongst 

 these are cabbages, endive, beet, parsley, cresses, leeks, 

 onions, radishes, carrots, knol-kohl, parsnips, turnips, arti- 

 chokes, vegetable marrow, and cauliflower ; also cucumbers, 

 pumpkins, water cresses, tomatos, capsicums ; with musk 

 melon, rock melon, and water melon, in great plenty and 

 perfection. The fruits now thriving are the grape, fig, 

 peach, almond, apple, pear, strawberry, sloe, plum (several 

 varieties), olive, the common and white mulberry, pine apple, 

 plantain, sugar cane, Cape gooseberry ; besides which 

 several ripen, which, in colder countries, never come to per- 

 fection : such as lemons, citrons, and oranges. From all 

 which data we may conclude that the climate of Swan River 

 is like that of the South of Italy ; and that while any of the 

 native plants may be expected to thrive in the open air in 

 England during the summer, none are likely to bear our 

 winters except the mountain plants, and those only in the 

 South of England. 



The more conspicuous plants which greatly contribute to 

 give a character to the landscape are, according to Brown, 

 Kingia australis, a species of Xanthorhcea, a Zamia nearly 

 allied to and perhaps not distinct from Z. spiralis of the East 

 coast, although it is said frequently to attain the height of 

 thirty feet ; a species of Callitris ; one or two of Casuarina ; 

 an JExocarpus, probably not different from _£J. cupressiformis ; 

 and Nuytsia jiorihunda. The latter (Tab. IV.), which bears 

 a profusion of yellow flowers, and is said to attain the stature 

 of a small Orange tree, is a most curious instance of a plant, 

 belonging to the parasitical order Loranthacese, growing in 

 the ground. The X author hcea above mentioned, is described 

 by Frazer as being associated with gigantic specimens of a 

 Banksia he calls grandis, and, with Zamia spiralis, thirty feet 

 high, which it rivals in dimensions, forming groups that im- 

 part to some places a character perfectly tropical. 



The natural orders which most abound in the Colony 

 are chiefly composed of species peculiar to this part of 



