THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST 



SOME CONSIDERATIONS OF THE ORIGIN OF OUR 

 ALPINE FLORA. 



By G. Weindorfer. 

 [Read he/ore the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 8th Feb., 1904.) 

 Having in the course of my visits to the Buffalo Mountains, 

 Mount Bogong, and Mount Hotham observed some of the 

 peculiarities of the Australian alpine flora, the thought arises, 

 How did the alpine flora originate, and where is the cradle of 

 this fairy army ? 



I think it would therefore be of general interest to say a few 

 words on that subject, taking for the basis of my remarks such 

 authorities as Hooker, " On the Flora of Australia : its Origin, 

 Affinities and Distribution ; being an Introductory Essay to the 

 Flora of Tasmania ; " Lendenfeld, " An Exploration of the Aus- 

 tralian Alps" (" Trans. Geological Society of Australasia," vol. i., 

 p. 119) ; and Professor David, Helms and Pittman, "Geological 

 Notes on Kosciusko, with Special Reference to Evidences of 

 Glacial Action" ("Proceedings Linnean Society, N.S.W., 1901," 



P- 26). 



In order to approach this question we have to consider that 

 plants in alpine regions occur under three conditions. First of 

 all there are those which, forming a very minute fraction of this 

 flora, occur exclusively in alpine regions, which are there endemic, 

 as, for instance, Helichrysum stirlingii, Oxylobium alpestre, 

 Acifhylla glacialis, and others. A second part has ascended from 

 lower elevations into higher ones, either keeping their habitus or 

 exhibiting only the characteristic growth of alpine plants. Among 

 such we may count Wahhnbergia gracilis, Candollea serrulata, 

 and many others. Finally, a third section of alpine plants 

 occurs also in other countries far removed from our Alps — as, for 

 instance, Uerpolirion novce-zealandice, Aster celmisia, Lomaria 

 alpina, and others, which we find represented in Tasmania and 

 New Zealand, while some species have even strong affinities to 

 species growing in the South American Andes. 



For the answer to our question the two first points are of lesser 

 importance. Let us therefore consider how it is possible that 

 certain species or their nearest relatives are represented in 

 different parts of the world which are separated by an immense 

 expanse of ocean. 



The possibility that one and the same species of different 

 isolated parts could have each for itself originated from one 

 primitive form is very doubtful. On the other hand, the possi- 

 bility seems to be a greater one that each species had its origin 

 on a certain point only (centre of creation). The proof for this 

 hypothesis is supplied by the observation we make on all living 

 beings, that they try to enlarge their dissemination area, which 



