Vict. Nat. 



104 EwART, The Flora of the Victorian Alps. [ *^oct 



THE FLORA OF THE VICTORIAN ALPS. 



By Alfred J. Ewart, D.Sc, Ph.D., F.L.S., Government Botanist 

 and Professor of Botany in the Melbourne University. 



With a Botanical Report by J. W. Audas, Herbarium Assistant. 



(With Map.) 

 {Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 8th August, 1910.) 

 During a week's visit (30th May to 4th June last) to the valley 

 of the Ovens River by Mr. Audas and myself, to investigate the 

 forest resources of the district, the spread of the introduced 

 weed St. John's Wort, and the effects of gold-dredging on agri- 

 cultural land, opportunity was taken to make as complete a 

 collection as possible of the plants of the district, which was 

 traversed in various directions, as indicated on the appended 

 plan. The plan also shows the approximate habitats of various 

 eucalypts and acacias growing in the Ovens valley. In spite 

 of the unfavourable time of the year, a fair number of plants 

 were found in flower and fruit, as is shown in the following 

 list. Mr. Audas, in particular, with the aid of a bicycle, covered 

 a very large amount of ground. Over 200 species of plants 

 were collected or noted during the present trip, but the chief 

 interest of the list lies in the alpine plants of restricted range, 

 and also in the fact that many plants of the plain were found 

 at considerable elevations. 



Nine naturalized alien weeds have crept into the local flora, 

 and one in particular much more than holds its own. Immedi- 

 ately around Bright, and for a few miles along the valley, the 

 flora, apart from trees, consists mainly of St. John's Wort. 

 The shire has no thistle inspector, and no attempts appear to 

 have been made to prevent its spread of late years. On cul- 

 tivated land the weed is easily suppressed, and wherever dense 

 timber is present it grows little or not at all. Its presence 

 does not appear to injuriously affect the development of forest 

 trees, so that on well-afforested land the weed is harmless. A 

 number of other alien weeds grow in the district, particularly 

 near or on cultivated ground ; but on the mountain-sides the 

 native flora, for the most part, holds its own. 



The alpine portions of Victoria have on several occasions been 

 visited by botanical collectors, who have recorded their observa- 

 tions in the pages of the Victorian Naturalist ; and though the 

 Buffalo Mountains and Mount Bogong are not usually regarded 

 as belonging to the Victorian Alps proper, for the sake of facility 

 of reference I have included the records of those parts in the list 

 of plants given herewith. 



The Victorian Alps form portion of the Great Dividing Range 

 of the State, and have their culminating point in Mount Hotham, 

 6,100 feet above sea level. Mount Feather top, 6,303 feet, is on 



