42 Topp, Wild-flowers of South-Westeni A ii^h'(ilit(. [\o|"'xx\ 



\iv. 



I may mention as a rather surprising fact that, though blue, 

 purple, and red flowers were so common. 1 noticed no bees 

 or i)utterflies — insects which are, or were, supposed to be 

 specially attracted by these colours. Another Proteacean 

 genus, Synaphea. is confined to south-west Australia. I 

 collected one of the four species, a low shrub occurring pretty 

 commonly, with stiff, much-dissected leaves and spikes of 

 small yellow flowers. 1 noticed two species of Isopogon — a 

 genus familiar to us. One, /. roseus, had rather handsome 

 cones of red flowers. Of course, many pea-flowering plants 

 occurred in the bush, but not so many, I think, as on some of our 

 heaths. 1 gathered specimens of Kennedya. Bossiaea, Eutaxia, 

 Pulteniea, Isotropis. Daviesia. Gompholol)ium. Oxylohium, and 

 Bartonia. Bartonia scabra, which I foimd only at Albany, is a 

 handsome shrub with large lilac and purple flowers. Oxylohium 

 callistachys is a fine shrub with silvery leaves and dense terminal 

 clusters of orange flowers. I must not omit to mention a 

 Thomasia {T. macrocalyx) — a member of an almost exclusively 

 Western Australian genus (there is one Victorian species), a 

 shrub with abundant lilac flowers. 



The plants growing on the sand-dunes were chiefly Hemi- 

 genius pungens — a prickly-leaved, rather tall shrub of the 

 Labiate family, with large blue flowers, forming dense thickets : 

 Anthocercis litorca, a good-sized shrub of the family of Solan- 

 aceae, with yellow flowers, rather glossy green leaves, and 

 petals almost linear : a shrubby Hibbertia, H. obcuneata, with 

 broad leaves and large yellow flowers ; and Pultencea aciphylla. 

 a bushy shrub with pungent leaves and \'ery sparse flowers, 

 orange-coloured. There were, of course, other shrubs not in 

 flower. I was nearly omitting mention of the large genus 

 Pimelea, represented in Western Australia by some very 

 handsome species. P. rosea is a low shrub with numerous 

 heads of rosy-pink flowers. P. spectahilis has a very large head 

 of creamy flowers. 



In describing the flowers of South-West Australia. 1 shall 

 no doubt be expected to give an account of the beautiful genus 

 Boronia, B. megasligMa, largely cultivated in our gardens on 

 account of the delightful fragrance of its flowers, being W(>11 

 known to be a Western plant. However, 1 only noticed two 

 species of this genus aliout Bunbury. 1 believe the neighbour- 

 hood of Albany is famous for the alnmdance of its fioronias, 

 one of its show places being Boronia Gully. 



Having dwelt on the striking differences between the south- 

 west flora and that of tin; south-east, I may refer to some 

 resemblanc<;s which I noted. I was pleased to find many old 

 Victorian friends among the orchids. Among these are 

 Gastrodtu ^esamoides, many Thelymitras (there are actually 



