\j2 A I' DAS, Botanical Gleanings on 



'Vict. Nat. 

 Jan. 



HOTANKAL (iLEANINGS ON A TRIP TO THE 

 OMEO DISTRICT. 



By J. \^^ Ai'DAS. FT..S., Assistant. National Herbarium, 



Melbourne. 



{Read befoye the Field Xatitralisis' Club of Victoria, iT,th Nov., 191 1.~ 

 About twelve months ago I spent a delightful holiday in East 

 Gippsland {]'ict. Nat., xxvii.. igii, p. 164), and was so 

 enamoured of the country for botanical research that I decided 

 to seek among its beauties for further specimens, and started 

 from Melbourne by an early train on Monday, the gth of 

 October last. The season was well advanced, and familiar 

 floral friends greeted my view from the carriage window as 

 we sped along. The Blue-bell, Wahlcnbcrgia gracilis, seemed 

 to reflect and intensify the glorious coerulean of the October sky. 

 while the Buttercup, Raminoidus lappaceiis, and Erect Marsh- 

 flower, Villarsia reniformis, gleamed golden from the swamps. 

 Everywhere Bulbine biilbosa, Craspedia Richea. Bnrcliardia 

 mnbellata, Pimelea humilis. Dillwynia cinerascens, Arthro podium 

 striclum. and the orchid Diuvis pidunculata. were blooming 

 profusely. 



Between Fulham and Sale a delightful surprise was in store 

 for me, the whole surface of the ground for long distances being 

 completely covered by an exceptional and almost exclusive 

 growth of two plants — Ajiiga aitstralis (commonly called 

 Bugle) and the everlasting Helichrysiim apiculatiim — whose 

 complementary colours, deep violet and pale canary, were 

 beautifully intermixed. 



A few hours' delay at Sale gave me an opportunity of makmg 

 some observations. I found that the town boasts an artesian 

 spring, round which a beautiful fountain has been built, and 

 its waters (whose medicinal properties are claimed to be equal 

 tb those of any imported mineral waters) are used in the 

 thoroughly up-to-date public baths, while the overflow has 

 been used to transfer an unsightly swamp into a large and 

 beautiful lake, on which pelicans, swans, and other birds live 

 in unmolested content. 



The river banks near the junction of the Glengarry and 

 Thomson Rivers are lined by Red Gums, Eucalyptus rostrata. 

 and Black Wattles. Acacia decurrens. Many of the latter attain 

 a height of go feet, being the tallest of this species that I have 

 ever noted, and they were badly infested, and many destroyed, 

 by the mistletoe Loranthits pcndulns, and also the lichen 

 Ramalina Eckloni. var. memhranacea, which encircled the 

 trunks and limbs to the tops of the branches. 



It is a matter of varied opinion among botanists whether 



