Vol. XXVIII. 

 igii 



1 Campbell, A Census of Grampian Plants. 107 



included humic matters. The whole formation of these old red 

 sandstones has a dip in a westerly direction at a low angle, with 

 the exception of Mount Dundas and the Black Range, which 

 dip approximately eastward, thereby indicating a synclinal 

 axis between them and the rest of the formation. The re- 

 markable and regular dip gives rise to scenery at once striking 

 and characteristic. There is a gentle westward slope to all 

 the hills, while to the east the beds of rock break off abruptly 

 in bold escarpments and almost vertical cliffs. 



How much plant-life is governed by these conditions may 

 easily be imagined. With a good rainfall (Pomonal has aver- 

 aged 32 inches for the past 11 years), the mountains give shelter 

 to plants of many genera that otherwise would not find foothold. 

 With varying site and shelter, plants found in a Mallee census 

 obtain the conditions they love in warm and dry quarters ; 

 while not far away, in some shaded glen, representatives of the 

 Gippsland flora flourish. But, apart from this, the character- 

 istically Grampian conditions are expressed in plants of much 

 botanical interest. A score or more, most prominent among 

 which are Eucalyptus alpina, Thryptomene Mitchelliana, Calv- 

 cothrix Sullivani, Grevillea oleoides, Baiiera sessiliflora, Prostan- 

 thera debilis, Pultencea mollis, P. rosea, Candollea sohoUfera, 

 and Stypandra glauca, are widespread in, yet restricted to, the 

 old red sandstones. 



For reasons indicated above, it is to be regretted that the 

 census of the Grampian flora published by the late Mr. 

 Sullivan was in association with a plant-list of the Pyrenees. 

 The very position of the Grampian mountains, lying approxi- 

 mately north and south, in antithesis to the general direction 

 of the Pyrenees, broad valleys and open country separating 

 them as well, indicates an essential difference in the character 

 of the country. The Pyrenees are as different to the Grampians 

 as are the Australian Alps. They mark the western limit of 

 a flora which obtains throughout the central Ordovician high- 

 lands of Victoria, while the Grampian flora is distinctly 

 associated with that of north-western Victoria and adjacent 

 portions of South Australia. 



Baron von Mueller, in the " Key to the System of Victorian 

 Plants," includes the Grampians in the south-western portion 

 of the State ; but this must be taken as a matter of convenience, 

 and is far from arbitrary, for the opening page of Part IT of 

 the " Key " gives the explanation of the geographic indications 

 to be " S.W.. the region from the sources of the watercourses 

 in the south-west to the coast west of Cape Otway." A large 

 portion of the Grampians is therefore included, since the 

 sources of the Wannon River are in the vicinity of Mount 

 William ; but a still larger portion must also be included in 



