578 BOTANY OF THE INTERIOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 



small hollows in the base of the trunks which hold water nearly 

 all the year round. One in particular has been the means of 

 quenching many a thirst on this particularly dr}^ piece of road. 



The name of Currajong or Kurrajong appears to be a settler's 

 name for the various trees which have a bark easily stripped and 

 containing a strong fibre, as is the case with the young shoots of 

 this species. In the Ulladulla district, sjDecies of Commersonia 

 and Pimelea are better known as Currajong than the Sterculia, 

 while in other places some of the Hibiscus family bear this name. 

 For other "Kurrajongs," see Mr. Maiden's 'Useful Native Plants 

 of Australia.' 



In the western districts the young leaves are often divided into 



three long lobes, and it is quite common to see divided leaves on 



large trees, but this feature is much more unusual along the 



coast. Seeds of the Currajong collected in the western districts, 



and planted on the coast, produce plants with leaves more divided 



than are those of the indigenous coastal trees. A plant grown 



at Burwood from seed collected on the Upper Macleay in 1 889, 



seldom has any divided leaves, and the divisions were very slight 



on some young shoots recently produced by cutting back one of 



the older branches. This particular tree, though now 13 years 



old, has never flowered. A tree growing beside it from seed 



collected on the Lachlan has the much divided leaves. Another 



slight difference noticed between the coastal and interior Curra- 



jongs is that the coast tree will sometimes shed all its leaves, 



though this is not a constant feature, and is a matter which 



requires further investigation, possibly only applying to old trees. 



A tree at Milton was leafless during most of January, 1901. In 



the interior I have noticed them partially shed their leaves, but , 



never wholly. During the year of heaviest flowering the Illawarra 



Flame-tree, Sterculia aceri/olia, A. Cunn., is almost leafless just 



before blooming in November and December, so that the feature 



is not restricted to one species of this genus. These slight 



differences are not sufficient to suggest a separation of the species, 



but they may point to a possibilit}^ of some slow evolution being 



in progress, perhaps the result of climatic influence. 



