^^'■■' 1 AuDAs, A Botanist in the Portland District. 16c, 



19.7 J ' ■> 



available for settlement, and many blocks of fifty acres and 

 upwards have been disposed of. Portions of the land are 

 exceptionally good, being of a dark peaty quality, while other 

 parts are much inferior. 



Taking the road to the south-west, leading towards Cape 

 Nelson, the picturesque lagoon which semicircles the town is 

 passed. It showed an abundant crop of rushes and reeds, 

 and among them many other aquatic plants. Some fine, 

 shapely trees of the Boobialla, Myoporum insulare, and Acacia 

 longifolia, var. sophorcB, lined the banks. Growing in the 

 lagoon were great quantities of Giant Arrow-grass, Triglochin 

 procera, and Streaked Arrow-grass, T. striata — the former, 

 where growing in deep water, had ribbon-like leaves from two 

 to three feet in length, and the dense flower-spikes were either 

 covered with pollen or contorted fruitlets ; also an abundance 

 of the Floating Pond Weed, Potamogeton nutans, was seen, with 

 its floating leaves and pecuhar flower-heads just protruding 

 above the water. Near the edge Villarsia reniformis 

 {Lintnanthemum exaltatitm, F. v. M.), a plant with handsome 

 yellow-fringed blossoms and round leaves, and Cotitla coronopi- 

 folia, with fleshy leaves and disc-like flowers, were equally 

 numerous, while near by the tall, shining plumes of the Common 

 Reed, Phragmites communis, waved in the breeze. An inter- 

 ,esting feature here was the large mound-like nests constructed 

 by the Black Swans, Cygniis atrata, from the surroimding reeds, 

 &c., where many of the birds were nesting, and some clutches 

 of young birds were seen. 



Along the roadside, the introduced Large-flowered Wood 

 Sorrel, Oxalis variabilis. Harlequin Flower, Sparaxis grandi- 

 flora, and Perennial Daisy, Bellis perennis, were growing by 

 the thousand, and almost completely carpeted the ground. 

 Although a good deal of the scrub land in this locality has 

 been divided into small holdings, and the beautiful floweiing 

 plants destroyed by fii'e in the act of clearing, there yet remain 

 some areas where the native flora may be seen in its original 

 l)eauty. Tlie soil here is of a dark peaty nature, and in some 

 places of a sandy composition. Although it was somewhat 

 early for collecting, there were sufficient plants in flower to 

 enable one to form an opinion of what the display would be 

 later in the season. At first sight the flora of this locality gave 

 a similar impression to that of Sandringham, but here it was 

 taller and of a deeper green in shade. The shrubs chiefly com- 

 prised Grevillea aquifolium, Leucopogon Richei, Acacia Mitchelli, 

 Olearia {Aster) ramulosa, Persoonia juniperina, Hakea nodosa, 

 Leptospermum myrsinoides, Melaleuca squarrosa, M. gibhosa, 

 and Bossicp-a cinerea. In the open scrub-lands an abundance 

 of small flowers, such as Spyridium vexilliferum, H-ibbertia 



