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TOPOGRAPHICAL AND ECOLOGICAL NOTES ON THE 

 FLORA OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. 



By a. a. Hamilton. 



During occasional visits to the Blue Mountains, extending 

 over a period of twenty years, desultory observations were made 

 on the limitation of the raiige of several species of the flora, 

 chiefly in respect of elevation. Three years ago, a systematic 

 survey of the boundaries of certain well known species was com- 

 menced, but, as is invariably the case, the sphere of operations 

 has become considerably enlarged, so that this paper deals briefly 

 with some four hundred (400) species of the mountain-flora, 

 which have been collected between the Nepean-Hawkesbury on 

 the east, and Eskbank on the west, an area embracing the lowest 

 and highest elevations on the Blue Mountains, A commence- 

 ment was made with the material at hand in the National Her- 

 barium, which, though rich in species, was found to be topo- 

 graphically weak, not a few of the labels, especially those of the 

 early collectors, giving a no more explicit locality than the Blue 

 Mountains. A fair sprinkling of the commoner plants were con- 

 spicuous bv their absence, each collector, doubtless, considering 

 that they had already been forwarded by an earlier one; while 

 Glumiferse, especially Juncacese, Restiacew, and Cyperacese, were, 

 as usual, neglected. It was noted that fully fifty per cent, of 

 the specimens had been collected by the Government Botanist, 

 Mr. J. H. Maiden, many of them in company with Mr. R. H. 

 Cambage, on their various journeys over the routes followed by 

 Allan Cunningham and other Blue Mountain explorers (Journ. 

 Proc. Roy. Soc. N. S. Wales, xliii., p. 123), all of which are from 

 specific localities. A field-collection was then started, to bridge 

 the gaps, but an exhaustive search of such a large area was found 

 to be impracticable in the time at the writer's disposal; and his 

 justification for offering such an incomplete work is, that it may 

 prove useful as a basis, which may be conveniently added to as 



