54 THE PROTEACE.E OP AUSTRALIA, 



THE PEOTEACEiE OF AUSTRALIA. 

 liY Rev. W. Woolls, Ph.D., F.L.S. 



The late William Forster, M.P., in his paper on " Australian 

 Autochtlhony" published in the Sydney University Review (1882), 

 when referring to the Proteacece remark .s : — "The Proteaceoe con- 

 stitixte in themselves, as it were, a microcosm of orders, comprising 

 a number of sub-divisions, each of which seems, as if, nnder 

 favourable circumstances, it might have developed into a separate 

 order, and which, by agreeing to differ, strike one at first sight as 

 if they had been classified, not so much by their resemblances to, 

 or affinities with each other, as by their differences or divergences 

 from other groups, though doubtless a close, and more strict 

 comparison reveals essential affinities." A casual observer might 

 naturally adopt this view of the order ; but, though the species 

 differ widely from each other in appearance, and suggest alliances 

 with other orders, there is in reality a bond of union which 

 separates them from the rest of the vegetable kingdom and binds 

 them closely together. The name of the order is, indeed, highly 

 appropriate, for the species are protean in their character, ranging 

 from mere herbs to large trees, exhibiting an inflorescence dififering 

 very much in colour and arrangement, and occurring from the 

 immediate vicinity of the sea-coast to the summits of mountains. 

 According to the eminent R. Brown, the Proteacece have the 

 radicle always pointing towards the base of the fruit, this distin- 

 giiishing it from the orders nearly allied, such for instance as the 

 Thymelacece and Zawflcece, which have the radicle short and superior. 

 But independently of this mark of difference, the order is easily 

 I'ecognized by the harsh, woody texture of the leaves, the irregular 

 tubular calyxes with a valvate aestivation, the position of the four 

 stamens on the divisions of the calyx, the bursting of the anthers 

 longitudinally, and the erect disposition of the ovules. Ilie 

 characters of the species are in some genera so well defined, that 

 even in a fossilised state they may be referred to their appropriate 



