Nov., 1909.] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST, 87 



picked up after having lain in a paddock for at least twenty 

 years. Wattle seeds, when shed, may travel great distances, 

 sliding over the ground on their hard, polished coatings, or they 

 may float on the surface of a stream, for they are, unlike most 

 seeds, lighter than their own bulk of water. At length having 

 found a haven of rest, the rains of winter may slowly coax the 

 tough covering to expand until it fractures, and thus sets free the 

 hidden life within. 



Perhaps the most remarkable character of wattle seed is that 

 roasting by fire will not destroy it. This fierce ordeal only 

 sooner sets free the embryo within ; thus it is a well-known fact 

 that when a bush-fire has swept through the forest, young wattles 

 spring up as if by magic, and will often be thickest where the 

 fire was fiercest, such as around the sites of logs or masses of 

 brushwood, thus apparently proving that the violence of the 

 flames is more effectual in cracking the tough integument than 

 the persuasiveness of continued moisture. Hence, profiting 

 by the methods of Nature, man, when he wants to ensure the 

 early germination of wattle seed, roasts it in a pan over the 

 fire or scalds it in boiling water. By either method the outer 

 skin is fractured, and the seed when planted readily puts forth 

 its green and tender shoot in less than three weeks' time. 



Let us now briefly glance at some of the more notable forms 

 among our yellow-haired friends. One of the best known, and 

 perhaps the most conspicuous about Melbourne and suburbs 

 after the winter solstice, is Acacia Baileyana, or the Cootamundra 

 Wattle, which, taking kindly to cultivation, has been introduced 

 from New South Wales, and is usually seen in full bloom during 

 July. Its small, mimosa-like, glaucous or bluish-grey foliage, and 

 its branchlets bearing abundant crops of tiny balls of rich lemon- 

 chrome, must be familiar to all. Though its original habitat is a 

 very restricted area in the mother State, it has been introduced 

 into nearly every public park and garden throughout the Com- 

 monwealth. Its discovery was due to that veteran botanist, Mr. 

 F. M. Bailey, the then Government Botanist of Queensland, who, 

 when on one of his exploring excursions in the neighbouring 

 State, espied its graceful form, and, promptly forwarding speci- 

 mens to the doyen of Australian botanists, the late Baron von 

 Mueller, was rewarded by having the species called after him, 

 hence in Acacia Baileyana we have recorded for all time the 

 name of one who has done valuable work among the plants of the 

 youngest of the Australian States, 



When the blossoms of Acacia Baileyana begin to wane the 

 Silver Wattles of south-eastern Australia and Tasmania are just 

 bursting into bloom, and by the end of August the majority are 

 in their prime and waiting to welcome " Yellow-haired Septem- 

 ber." The Silver Wattle, Acacia dealbala, was the species 



