APPLIED ART. 



Hunter and on the Dividing Range. It is very plentiful in certain jjarts ol the 

 Blue Mountains, as, for instance, the road from Leura to Mount Hay. 



The Victorian Waratah has, perhaps, a greater range than the New South 

 Wales species, whilst the Tasmanian is also fairly well distributed in that island. 

 These two are fully described under their respective headings. 



New South Wales, then, has not a monopoly of the Waratah, ior, as stated 

 above, it is found in three out of the six States ol the Commonwealth, but at the 

 same time it must be remembered that it does not occur in any other quarter of 

 the globe, so that the expression " the land c' the Waratah " is applicable only 

 to Australia. 



The extent to which the Waratah has been used in Decorati\'(' Art since 

 its first discovery clearly demonstrates that its possibilities in this direction are 

 of a high order, and these, it is hoped, will be fully proved by the accompanying 

 illustrations, which are also given to show its utilisations in various branches of 

 Technology. 



As the New South Wales Waratah was the first of the genus recorded, it 

 has chronologically, at any rate, the prior claim for distinction, and so is taken 

 first in the series. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANT. 



It never attams tree size, and so ranks as a shrub, which sometimes reaches 

 the height of 12 feet. The leav^es are irregular in form, the upper edges 

 being toothed, and the lower portion tapering into a long stalk, enlarged at the 

 base ; the midrib and lateral veins are very distinct. 



The head or inflorescence is composed of a large number of individual crim- 

 son flowers surrounded by large acuminate bracts, also crimson coloured. The 

 fruit (a follicle) is recurved and measures 3 to 4 inches in length, the seeds 

 having a wing about ^ inch long. All these features are distinctly seen in the 

 coloured illustration — Smith's figure of 1793, Botany of New Holland. It 

 flowers in September and October. 



ORIGIN OF BOTANICAL NAME. 

 " Telopea," from the Greek Telopos — seen from afar; and '^peciosissima, 

 from the Latin — very beautiful. 



ITS ADAPTABILITY TO DECORATION. 



When one sees what designs the old Egyptians produced from the simple 

 Lotus flower, the Greeks from the Honeysuckle, and the Acanthus leaf— flowers 

 and leaves which possess lew of the quahties for conventionalisation such as 

 are found m the Waratah, it will readily be admitted how fortunate Australians 



