APPLIED ART. 



T7 



(b) The Victorian Waratah. 



(Telopea oreades, F. v. M.) 

 Figure III. 



HISTORICAL. 



This Waratah was first rectndcd l)y Baron von Mutllcr in iS6i, Ijeing dis- 

 covered l)y him in theNangatta Mountains and Canus River District, Gi])psland, 

 Victoria, so that although it has since been fouiul in soutiu-rn New South Wales, 

 its original wide geographical distrilnition entitles it to be regarded as Victoria's 

 own. 



DESCRIPTION OF PLANT. 



The species was originally descriljed as a shrul), but in the ranges of Gipps- 

 land and the south-east corner of New South Wedes it attains tree size, the timber 

 specimens exhibited in this Museum beiug taken from a tree measuring over a 

 foot in diameter at the butt. The Ijark is thin and moderately smooth, of a dark 

 chocolate color. The leaves are obovate, oblong, or lanceolate, acute or obtuse, 

 4 to 8 inches long, tapering into a long petiole, entira oi rarely with a few teeth 

 at the end, usually bluish underneath ; the veins, however, are not so well marked 

 as in the New South Wales Waratah {T. spcciosissima). -dhhough the midrib is just 

 as prominent. The flowers are similar to those of that s[)ecies, but fewer in the 

 head, with smaller bracts. The fruit, a follicle, measures from j to 4 inches in 

 length. 



ORIGIN OF THE BOTANICAL NAME. 

 " Telopea " is from the Greek Telopos, — meaning seen from afar, and 

 " oreades " from the Greek Oreias,—a mountain nymi)h, in referring to the habitat 

 of the tree. 



ITS ADAPTABILITY TO DECORATION. 



The blooms, although equally highly coloured like thos3 of the New South 

 Wales Waratah, are not quite so gorgeous, as there are fewer individual flowers 

 in the head, whilst the bracts are a less pronounced feature; nevertheless, it has 

 artistic features or characters not possessed by the first dssciibed i)lant for the 

 species attains tree sizs and produces a pale-coloured i)rettily-niarked timl^er, 

 equal in figure to the finest American Sycamore, in which respect, therefore, at 

 least it is superior to the New South Wales Waratah. 



c 



