360 



Journal of Agriculture. Victoria. [10 Jine, 1919. 



THE AUSTRALIAN FLORA FROM 



ASPECT. 



AN ORNAMENTAL 



(Bj/ Edward E. Pescott. F.L.S., F.R.H.S., Pomologist.) 

 (Continued from page 245.) 



The Acacias or Wattles. 



The popularity of the wattle has increased almost a thousandfold 

 since the Wattle Day League sprang into potential and popular exist- 

 ence. Prior to the League's inauguration the wattles in cultivation 

 were few, and on the first Wattle Day celebration in Melbourne in 1911 

 a census of wattle species displayed totalled thirteen. A few years later, 

 On Wattle Day, 1917, a total of thirty-three wattle blossom species were 

 counted. Seedsmen's lists now number wattles by the score, where pre- 

 viously only a dozen or so were noted. A census of Australian wattles 



Golden Wattle [Acacia pycnuntlui). 



i reveals the presence of some hundreds of species, and as botanical 

 I exploration is being extended, particularly in the ISTorthern Territory, 

 ! many more are being added to the list each year; so that, counting the 

 i species and their many varieties, there must be over 500 different 

 i species and varieties native to Australia. 



i Generally speaking, the many species of the Genus Acacia have been 

 included under the common term " wattle." This word has come to 

 I us from very early Anglo-Saxon history, when the pliant twigs and 

 I saplings of trees and shrnbs were woven or plaited together io form 

 I framework for fences, hurdles, screens, and even buildings. The opera- 

 tion was called " wattling." 



