i') I Audas, I Trip to Mount Beenak. [voi.xxxi 



GLIMPSES EN PASSANT ON A TRIP TO MOUNT 

 BEENAK. 



By J. W. Audas, F.L.S. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 10th Jan., 1916.) 



With pleasant recollections of a botanizing trip to the Beenak 

 district, and thinking that a second visit to the locality, in the 

 mosl favourable season known for many years for wild-flowers, 

 might be productive oi good results, I took advantage of a 

 few days' leisure last October to again visit that portion of the 

 State. Leaving Melbourne by the morning train on Friday, 

 the 22nd October. Pakenham (35 miles) was made the starting- 

 point oi a ten days' trip. The morning was an ideal one, and 

 as the train steamed along towards my destination the pro- 

 fusion oi wild-flowers in the railway enclosures engendered an 

 expectation oi a generous harvest on the mountains. 



On leaving Pakenham my route lay over land timbered with 

 the Swamp Gum, Eucalyptus paludosa, Apple Gum, /•. . 

 Stuartiana, and Narrow-leaved Peppermint, E. amygdalina, 

 while here and there isolated trees oi Acacia mollissima were 

 conspicuous by their abundance of golden blossoms. The 

 ground was profusely carpeted with native and exotic plants, 

 owing to the extraordinarily favourable season. Among othei 

 flowers, Helichrysum apiculatum, Hypericum japonicum, 

 W ahlenbergia gracilis, Gnaphalium purpureum, G. luteo-album, 

 Ajuga australis, Mazus Pumilio, Sebaa ovata, Erythrcea auslralis, 

 and Veronica gracilis predominated; mention should also be 

 mad< oi Pelargonium australe, a pretty little plant with a dainty 

 perfume. In cultivated places the familiar Plantago lanceolata, 

 or Rib-grass, was found to be producing its "soldiers" by the 

 thousand, and many "t the flower-stems showed a proliferous 

 growth. Equally abundant was the common wayside weed, 

 Hypocharis radicata, which gave quite a golden colour to the 

 land. 



Nearing the Koo-wee<-rup Swamp. 1 noticed thai the beds oi 

 om< oi the 1 reeks were literally 1 hoked with the Giani Arrow- 

 grass, Triglochin procera, Streaked Arrow-grass, T. striata, 

 Floating Pond-weed, Potamogeton natans, Watei Buttercup, 

 Ranunculus aquatilis, Stout Water-Milfoil, Myriophyllum 

 variifolium, and Round Water-Starwort, CaUUriche Muelleri, 

 while in partially dried up <>i shallow pooh, often known as 

 "slacks," Mi' vegetation was in profusion, such plants as 

 Villarsia reniformis, Polygonum minus, Lythrum Hyssopifolia, 

 Epilobium pallidiflorum, Hydrocotyle hirta, II. asiatica, Lobelia 

 anceps, and Claytonia australasica abounding. Orchids which 

 delight in moist situations were growing very luxuriantly. 

 These comprised Diuris pedunculata, I), punctata, Microtis 



