Nov.,"! Hart, Eticalypts about Creswick and Clunes. 103 



railway near Murrumbeena the Red Gums showed — at least 

 lately — as a ring, which no doubt once surrounded an area 

 too wet and peaty for them. This was formerly a swamp. 



About Creswick we would expect, then, that the increased 

 rainfall and longer wetness of the soil would give an advantage 

 to Swamp Gum as compared with Red Gum, whereas on the 

 lower levels of the volcanic plain about Melbourne the ad- 

 vantage would be with the Red Gum. Local variations occur 

 in the soil, and the determining cause is suitability of soil and 

 climate for each independently, for, as already noticed, com- 

 petition is not severe in the plains. It is probable that at 

 Creswick we are passing the climatic limit for Red Gum as a 

 naturally occurring tree ; it grows there in the bedrock valleys 

 where planted. 



As regards the other trees of the plains, Sheoke is common 

 on some parts of the plains near Melbourne, and may be 

 regarded as more characteristic of the low and warm volcanic 

 plains. It possesses well-marked dry country features in its 

 switch form and furrowed branchlets. On the low plain power 

 to resist drought gains in importance ; on the high plain the 

 chief difficulty is the water-logged condition in winter. The 

 Blackwood is one of the commonest and most widely-distributed 

 trees of the plain, and survives often as a hedgerow tree on 

 lands otherwise cleared. It is, of course, stunted as compared 

 with its growth in the forest. A point of interest in the 

 dispersal of its seeds came under my notice on a grassy flat. 

 The loosely-coiled cluster of pods is easily rolled along the 

 ground by the wind with the seeds hanging loosely in the pods. 

 Evidently the seeds of the tree may be spread over a consider- 

 able area of the surrounding plain. The Banksia, like many 

 Proteaceae, may be regarded as drought-resistant. 



As to detail of distribution of the species on the l)edrock 

 country, the two Peppermints behave much as described by 

 Howitt in Gippsland. H. dives prefers the sunnier situations, 

 and is very prominent on some of the spurs close to Creswick ; 

 it occurs on the top of the Divide south of Creswick. E. 

 amygdalina prefers the shadier situations and the higher country. 

 It reaches to the township by way of Spring Gully from the 

 east, and is abundant in the shady gullies falling east to Slaty 

 Creek from the Ballarat road. 



E. obliqua shows great variation in its form and size, according 

 to its situation, as may be seen also about Melbourne, con- 

 trasting the; trees of the Dandenong Ranges with those of the 

 sandy soil near Clayton, for instance. Far the best trees arc 

 to be found in the denser forest of the shadier slopes and the 

 higher levels, though nothing can be seen to compare with 

 the large trees elsewhere. These are the best timber coming 



