100 TlIK VICTORIAN NATITUALIST. 



EXCURSION TO SANDRINGHAM. 



I AM pleased to say that our excursion to Sandringham, on 

 Saturday, 26th September, proved a very successful one. Owing 

 to the heavy rainfall in the middle of September, and the 

 following warm days, plant life was in a well-advanced state. 

 About eighty species of the plants found on this part of the 

 Victorian coast were seen in flower, thus giving those who are 

 beginners in the study of plant life a splendid opportunity of 

 securing a great number of species, as an encouraging start for a 

 collection. Indeed, it was a great pleasure to see what keen 

 interest the fifteen members of the excursion took in examining 

 and collecting specimens of the flora surrounding them. 



Leaving the station at Sandringham, we followed the road to 

 Beaumaris for a few hundred yards, and then, turning to the 

 left into the open country, entered the Tea-tree scrub near the 

 Red Bluff, through which we proceeded as far as Black Rock. 

 Then, as time did not permit us to go further, we decided to 

 return to Sandringham, collecting partly on the sea coast and 

 partly on the slope rising from the shore. 



Before proceeding further, I would like to offer some explana- 

 tion of the reasons for the conditions peculiar to this coastal flora. 

 It is at once observable that the Sandringham flora presents quite 

 a different appearance from that of more inland parts, and that 

 the prevailing species are either of a succulent nature, occurring 

 principally near the coast, or ihey are of a spinescent nature, 

 small and narrow leaved. 



Soil and climate play an important part in determining the 

 character of a flora in general, and especially of a small local flora. 

 They are the causes by which some species are distributed chiefly 

 in certain regions, whilst in others with different soil and climatic 

 conditions they are either missing or occur in a modified form. 

 It seems as if plants which have the same claims on climate and 

 soil form a " fellowship," taking up, with united strength, the 

 struggle against the unfavourable conditions to which they are 

 exposed, or enjoying together such advantages as Nature has 

 provided. In the flora of Sandringham we observed three of 

 these fellowships. 



As the sea forms a natural barrier to phanerogamous plant life, 

 I will speak first of all about those plants which brave the 

 inclemency of wind and wave, and, so to speak, form the outposts 

 of the flora further inland. In the poor, sandy soil which stretches 

 only a few yards in width along the sea we noticed Atriplex 

 cinereum, a species belonging to the Salsolacese, in solitary patches, 

 while Mesembriavithemum australe, M. cequilaterale, Tetragonia 

 implexicoma, and lihagodia billardieri dare not go too near the 

 sea, but are chiefly found on the partly rocky, partly sandy slope, 



