THE VICTOKIAN NATURALIST. 213 



rhcea australis, but in parts, especially on some patches of 

 almost flat ground, the Banksias have a monopoly, and in the 

 distance bear a striking resemblance to orchards of old apple 

 trees. The Grass-trees, in turn, grow luxuriantly either among 

 the Banksias and small eucalypts, or appear as the giants of a 

 forest in which dwarf plants of a " heathy " nature form the 

 undergrowth. Some specimens of Grass-tree measured gave 

 14 feet to the top of the flower-spike. 



It is not so easy to describe a class of country by means of the 

 " sheoaks," as Casiiarina qtmdrivalvis, at least, shows here 

 marked adaptability. It may be found on the low, well-grassed 

 sand ridges, sheltered behind the higher sand hummocks of 

 Oberon Bay, on the steep sides of high hummocks near the Derby 

 River, and on the wind-swept rocky seaward face of the Promon- 

 tory's western hills. On these steep and exposed hillsides there are 

 groves of this Casuarina extending over acres of ground, the trees 

 so close as to give continuous shade to the pedestrian, who may 

 walk with noiseless tread over a brown carpet of the dead and 

 matted filiform branchlets which have fallen and accumulated 

 through many years. The Erect Sheoak, C. suherosa, was much 

 scarcer than either C. q^iadrivalvis or C. dislyla. 



The last-mentioned species we found to be typical of another 

 sort of country differing widely from those previously mentioned, 

 and from its associations reminding one of the flora at Sandringham. 

 There are, however, some diflerences, the principal being the 

 greater elevation of the Promontory heath-lands, and with that 

 elevation a loss of the "tea-trees" — Leplos2)ermum Icevigafi'm, 

 L. scoparium, L. myrsinoides, Ricinocarpus pinifolnis, &c., and 

 the substitution of Platylohktni triangulare for the commoner P. 

 oblusanyulum, the former having been thought by Baron von 

 Mueller to have come across from Tasmania. But the associa- 

 tion of the Casuarina named with stunted Banksia marginatcu 

 Isopogon ceratophylhis, Epacris impressa (red and white), 

 Styphelia, virgata, Hibbertia, sp., Candollea serridata, Gorrea 

 speciosa, the " Native Fuchsia," the orchid Glossodia major, 

 and, omitting many others, the Bluebell, Wahlenbergia gracilis, 

 warrants the application of the term " Sandringham flora " 

 to the heath-loving group here as well as in the Otway 

 Ranges and parts of the Yarra valley, &c., and so enable 

 the student to recall a type of vegetation to be seen close 

 to Melbourne. This Sandringham flora may be found in several 

 parts of the Park, notably between the Derby and Tidal Rivers 

 along the old telegraph route, and on the seaward slopes, where 

 the sand hummocks have piled high over granitic rocks. 



There are left the inland tea-tree thickets, marsh lands, grass 

 land, river belts, and shore and gully vegetation. The tea-tree 

 thickets, comprising chiefly Leptospermiun lanigerum, L. sco- 



