Ch. V] WARM TEMPERATE MOIST WINTER DISTRICTS 533 



Acrotriche (Proteaceae), Calythrix (Myrtaccae, Fig. 295, 8) cover the ground, and are 

 overtopped by higher growing ones, such as Hakea (Proteaceae, Fig. 298, 4), Logania 

 (Loganiaceae), Atyxia (Apocynaceae), Myoporum (Myoporaceae, Fig. 295, 6), Steno- 

 chilus (Myoporaceae), Euphrasia (Scrophulariaceae), Thomasia (Sterculiaceae), 

 Bursaria (Pittosporaceae), Pomaderris (Rhamnaceae), Haloragis (Halorageaceae), 

 Melaleuca (Myrtaceae, Fig. 295, 1), Leptospermum (Myrtaceae, Fig. 298, 5), Eutaxia 

 (Papilionaceae), Acacia (Mimosaceae, Fig. 296), Isopogon (Proteaceae), Correa 

 (Rutaceae), Rhagodia (Chenopodiaceae), &c, forming sometimes impenetrable 

 thickets ; in other localities the scrub consists only of Eucalyptus dumosa, A. Cunn., 

 sometimes formed by other bushy Eucalypts, viz. E. uncinata, Turcz. ; E. bicolor, 

 A. Cunn. ; and E. incrassata, Labil. ; growing only six to eight feet high and 

 extending hundreds of miles. 



'The most predominant colour of the leaves of the scrub is a glaucous "green, in- 

 terspersed here and there with whitish leaves of the Rhagodia and other shrubs 

 having reddish-brown leaves. Most of the leaves are ovate, entire, coriaceous, and 

 pungent ; shrubs with pinnated leaves are seldom met with. 



' The monotonous and dismal look of an extensive scrub is depressing, especially 

 when viewed from an eminence. The equal height of the vegetation, the dull glau- 

 cous colour of the foliage, look in the distance like a rolling sea reaching the horizon 

 —at least the first sight of the Murray Scrub, extending hundreds of miles, produced 

 this impression on my mind. Every one avoids the scrub as much as possible — 

 many have lost their way there and perished for want of water. 



'All the scrubs in the different districts produce the same common impression, but 

 the plants comprising them are not the same genera and species, locality and soil 

 affecting the character of the flora. 



'Shrubs of one kind or another are found in flower in the scrub throughout the 

 year. Most kinds produce their flowers in September and October ; the rainy 

 season therefore alters the physiognomy of the scrub very little ; but it calls into 

 life numerous terrestrial orchids, of which a good many kinds inhabit the scrub, 

 viz. :— Erochilus, Caladenia, Diuris, Prassophyllum, Dipodium, Microtis, Cyrto- 

 stylis, &c. These appear with some perennial and annual plants, viz. : — Helichrysum, 

 Drosera, Helipterum, Scaevola, Brunonia, Thysanothus, Euphrasia, Goodenia, 

 Hypoxis, Senecio, Sec, and annual grasses ; but their duration is short, as with the 

 setting in of the dry season they disappear as rapidly as they appeared.' 



'Heath-like or vertically placed leaves,' says Behr 1 , 'are closely packed on the 

 rounded shrubs with a moss-like interlacing growth, or scantily clothe the naked- 

 ness of the long shoots that project from the forbidding scraggy shrubs. The pre- 

 vailing tint of the foliage is a dull bluish green ; 3'et in this respect Nature lays down 

 no inflexible law; Rhagodia bears white foliage, another shrub brownish red; 

 strangest of all, for most unnatural among such surroundings, is the vivid fresh 

 green of Cassia and Santalum. Pinnate leaves, or other forms of compound leaves, 

 are rare; I remember only a single example in a species of Cassia. There is 

 otherwise the greatest possible variety in the rigid foliage, in shape from ovate to 

 mere setiform, in arrangement all possible stages from the densest crowding 

 together of leaves to the bareness of leafless twigs. Indeed plants belonging to very 



1 Behr, op. cit., p. 548. 



