24 AuuAs, The Grampians Revisited. [vVi"^xxxi 



THE GRAMPIANS REVISITED. 



By J. W. AuDAS, F.L.S., National Herbarium, Melbourne. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, gth March, 1914.) 



Rather more than twelve months ago I had the pleasure of 

 reading before the Club a paper descriptive of a visit to the 

 Grampians {Vict. Nat., February, 1913, vol. xxix., p. 146), 

 and, though it might seem that the subject had then been 

 dealt with in an exhaustive manner, those who know the 

 Grampians will remember that there were still many parts 

 left unvisited. In order to make further acquaintance with 

 these mountains and their charming flora I paid another visit 

 to Hall's Gap in October last, when I was fortunate in 

 sharing the company of eight other excursionists, each an 

 enthusiast in his own Une, and the records of our outings were 

 preserved in ways which, to one who collects specimens in the 

 ordinary manner, seemed delightful. One member (Mr. Relph) 

 secured photographs of many beautiful plants in their natural 

 surroundings, while another (Mr. Dickins) recorded their 

 beauties of colour with his facile brush. 



Of the many expeditions, perhaps the most interesting was 

 that to Mount Difficult, portion of the northernmost range 

 of the Grampians system, and an eminence which adequately 

 bears out its name. I was, however, aware that the locality 

 had not been botanically examined, and did not allow myself 

 to entertain any qualms regarding the difficulties to be sui- 

 mounted in ascending it. Starting out in a south-westerly 

 direction from Hall's Gap, and working round Quarry Hill 

 for a distance of about six miles, we passed on to a number 

 of gullies whose unexplored condition aroused a sort of pro- 

 prietary interest among us, which we exercised by bestowing 

 upon them names we considered ai)propriate. For instance, 

 one delightful valley through which rippled one of the many 

 streams characteristic of the Grampians we called " Caladenia 

 Creek," because on its slopes we found the orchid, Caladenia 

 congesta, in two strange forms. The first was a clump of bright 

 bronze colouring, so unlike the ordinary forms that for a 

 moment we fancied ourselves the fortunate finders of a new 

 species. The other consisted of fine spikes of ordinary 

 colouring, but each bearing the unusual number of four flower- 

 heads. Hereabouts also flourished Humea elcgans, a plant 

 which, from its general appearance, would undoubtedly be 

 taken to be one of the Amarantaceje, but which is really a 

 composite. It is, when blooming, a very fine sight, its large 

 bractlets hanging in graceful showers, coloured generally pink, 

 but sometimes seen in white or crimson. The large, soft- 

 textured leaves exude a gummy substance which causes them 



