""^"gir'] 'D' Alto:n, Botany of the "Little Desert." 67 



Pseiidanthus ovalifolius, Isopogon ceratophyllus, Tetratheca 

 ciliata (sometimes with white flowers), Lhotzkya genetyUoides, 

 Calycothrix tetragona, Eriostemon stenophyllus, small trees of 

 Santaliim persicarmm and Callitris calcarata not more than 

 twelve feet high, Brachyloma daphnoides, a tall variety of 

 Piiltencea temiifolia of very bushy habit, the trailing Eutaxia 

 empetrifolia, with some bushes of Eucalyptus incrassata (which 

 is ubiquitous). Styphclia adscendens, Styphelia humifusa, 

 and Brachyloma ericoides grow side by side, interspersed with 

 the humbler Helichrysum ohtusifolium, H. scorpioides, and 

 Haloragis tetragyna, with here and there, in the sandier patches, 

 that other showy representative of the order, Loudonia Behri. 

 If we make diligent search just here we may be rewarded with 

 a specimen of Grevillea lavandulacea, which takes the form 

 of a good-sized shrub. Grevillea Huegelii is also to be found 

 rather sparsely distributed. As we descend the hill we pass 

 round the edge of a small salt lake, mostly dry, and here the 

 late Mr. C. Walter and I collected the first specimen of 

 Darwinia micropetala, a low shrub not more than nine inches 

 high, with small whitish flowers, pronounced new for Victoria 

 by the late Baron von Mueller. In the brackish water of the 

 lake, before the summer sun dries it up, may be found Ruppia 

 maritima. A few small trees of Exocarpos spartea, with its 

 pecuhar yellowish-green stems and branches, may be seen here, 

 and on quitting the desert on southern margin a belt of 

 Leptospermiim myrsinoides is passed through, interspersed with 

 Casuarina distyla. Near the little lake a small variety of 

 Boronia polygalifolia may be met, with smah, pale pink blossoms 

 on traiUng stems. Grasses, such as Stipa crinita (with both 

 yellowish and purplish glumes) and Stipa semibarbata, are 

 abundant in places, with a few plants of Danthonia penicillata 

 in between. 



On the road from Winiam to Mount Arapiles (shown on 

 sketch map) may be found, in the spring of the year, the showy 

 Boronia clavellifolia in profusion, its pink flowers making a 

 brave show amongst its more sombre companions, and near 

 the south margin of the desert there is a patch of Styphelia 

 strigosa indicating a blow-up of ironstone and quartz, probably 

 gold-bearing. About half-way through the desert we come 

 to a large plain, many acres in extent, covered with low scrubs 

 and surrounded with sand-hills, some covered with Eucalyptus 

 macrorhyncha, or Stringy-bark, and others with Melaleuca 

 nncinata, the latter preferring the gravelly rises, and with 

 narrow belts and small clumps of Eucalyptus incrassata and 

 E. uncinata. The lower scrubs are mostly Styphelia virgata, 

 interspersed with Phyllota pleur android es. Belts of Epacris 

 impressa, pure white, will be met with at intervals, also a plant 



