126 Excursion to Gembrook. [voi' C xxxii 



EXCURSION TO GEMBROOK. 



Only a small party of members ventured on the week-end 

 visit to Gembrook on Saturday, 16th October. Leaving town 

 by the early train, Gembrook was reached soon after i p.m., 

 just too late for the members to obtain additional supplies at 

 the local store, owing to the institution of the Saturday half- 

 holiday in the district; however, through the kindness of friends, 

 this disappointment did not prove so serious as was at first 

 anticipated. The journey by the narrow-gauge line from 

 Ferntree Gully was delightful ; the countryside was looking its 

 best — everything bright and green, with fair quantities of 

 flowers still decking the railway enclosures, while the tints 

 displayed by the leaves of the gum saplings were in themselves 

 worth seeing. As usual, the extensive nursery just beyond 

 Emerald was a fine sight, and a noticeable addition to the 

 plants grown there was a large plantation of the New Zealand 

 Flax, Phormium tenax, for the fibre of which there is a great 

 demand at present, and it seemed contrary to what we always 

 understood as to the natural habitat of this plant to find it 

 doing so well in such rich soil and at an elevation of nearly 

 1,000 feet above sea-level. On leaving the station our route 

 took us through what was formerly the site of the Acclimatiza- 

 tion Society's reserve, one of the party pointing out where 

 the Club members camped in November, 1901, and bad the 

 enjoyable outing which is recorded in the Naturalist for 

 December, 1901 (vol. xviii., p. 116). He said that, notwith- 

 standing the opening-up of the reserve for settlement, it 

 appeared to be little changed in the interval. Numerous plants 

 in flower were noted along the road, such as the white Epacris 

 intpressa, the blue Duvif'icra slrida. tlie beautiful yellow llowvrs 

 of Hihhcrtia serpillifolia, or the paler yellow of Pivtelea /lava. 

 A fine plant of Tccoma australis, in full bloom, was rambling 

 over some saplings near the roadside, forming a pretty object. 

 Aboul two miles from the station we came to the week-end hut 

 which il was at first proposed to make our headquarters for 

 about twenty-four hours ; but, on a neighbour offering the use 

 ol a spare cottage, the first idea was abandoned. However, 

 as a smart shower came on we made use of it as a temporary 

 shelt- r, and then went for a ramble towards the Gembrook 



!.. and in a tributary gully saw a splendid growth of the 

 Coral Fern, Gleichenia circinata, climbing up the trees to a 

 heighl of at leasl fifteen feet. Here also were many fine 



in. 11- of the Kin.^ Fern, Osmunda harbor a, noticeable by 

 their dark, glossy fronds. Many fine eucalypts still remained 

 hereabouts, mostly Mountain Ash. Eucalyptus regnans, but 

 no doubl om< day they will shar< the fate of their kindred 

 nearer the railway, and provide material for a sawmill. It 

 was now time to proceed to the cottage we had been invited 



