68 D'A'LTO'N, Botany of the " Little Desert." \vo\^^ 



. Nat. 

 XXX. 



or two of Persoonia juniperina and Conospcrnmm patens 

 standing well above the other scrub. 



To the east of this road may be found a variety of Prostanthera 

 denticulata, on gravelly soils, with very small leaves and good- 

 sized purple flowers. My friend Dr. Sutton and I discovered 

 this plant first amongst a bouquet of wild flowers which was 

 exhibited at the Dimboola Agricultural and Pastoral Show a 

 few years ago by children from near Polkemmet, close to the 

 edge of the desert. We spent one whole Sunday, under the 

 guidance of a boy on horseback trying to get some more 

 specimens, and in succeeding nearly got bushed, as the 

 " shades of night were falhng fast " before we got out of the 

 scrub. That little cosmopolitan of our State, Gompholohium 

 Hticgelii is to be found also in these low scrubs, and here and 

 there Euphrasia Broiejnii puts forth its lilac and sometimes 

 white flowers. We must not forget to mention that the neat 

 little shrub Logania linifolia inhabits the south-east corner 

 of the Desert in conjunction with Styphelia ericoides, one of 

 the handsomest of the genus. The bright scarlet flowers of 

 the Prostanthera coccinea will probably be noticed as 3^ou enter 

 the stronger soil area in the same locality. 



On a branch road near the southern extremity of the desert 

 is a small hill covered mostly with Leptospermum myrsinoides, 

 and on this rise there grow a few bushes of Cryptandra bifida. 

 Specimens obtained by me some years ago and submitted to 

 Baron von Mueller were identified as occurring elsewhere only 

 on Kangaroo Island. This shrub grows to a height of about 

 four feet, and is conspicuous by the white bracts around the 

 flower-heads in comparison to the rusty colour of the foliage. 

 Near this spot, in short scrub, Xanthosia disseda may be found. 

 Lasiopetalum Baneri is fairly common here, its rather pretty 

 leaves and pinkish flowers making it easily discernible amongst 

 its neighbours, such as Hihhertia densifiora and H. strida, both 

 common, particularly the latter. 



Early in the spring or late in the winter the sand-hills will be 

 found one mass of yellow, from the bloom of H. virgata. We 

 must not forget the existence of such climbers as Clematis 

 microphvlla and Comespcrma vohihile — the former a very early 

 bloomer and the latter extremely rare, because I have come 

 across only one plant, in full bloom, and exhaling an exquisite 

 odour, on the extreme northern edge of the Desert, supported 

 by the new, recently found Melaleuca negleda. I might state, 

 en passant, that the said melaleuca was known to me many 

 years ago, but the late Baron von Mueller confused it with 

 Melaleuca pustulata, the paper-bark tree, which is also a denizen 

 of the salt swamps of the I.ittle Desert. The trees bloom at 

 different periods, and the flowers have a different perfume, 



