BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 93 
for they were faded when I found them. This Verticordia 
has some resemblance to V. insignis, but attains to three or 
four times its height. 
Every exertion shall be made on my part to render the 
collection of plants from the Swan River colony as perfect as 
possible; and next season I hope to go to the South, and 
gather what can be found there. 
The genera Verticordia and Chrysorrhwa, have a pecu- 
liarity in their mode of growth, which I never observed in 
other plants. The C. nilens, one of the most beautiful of 
our botanical productions, during the first stage of its growth 
(and itis several years before it attains sufficient strength to 
throw up a flowering stalk), bears linear leaves, quite unlike 
the foliage which its flowering branches produce. When the 
plant has gained the requisite strength for perfecting its in- 
florescence, it sends up a soft, succulent stem, two or three 
feet high, which, in the second year, displays a cluster of 
blossoms, two or three inches in diameter. In this stage, 
the stem in question is so tender a plant, that the weight of 
the flowers causes the slender stalk to droop, and nearly to 
touch the ground. The third year, these corymbs of flowers 
Increase in size, but the stem which bears them acquires a 
Corresponding degree of strength, and thus, in full-grown 
Specimens, the corymbs of beautiful flowers are often a foot 
or eighteen inches in diameter, and excelling the surrounding 
plants both in height and loveliness, are conspicuous at a con- 
siderable distance. The flower-stalk is so pliant, and the 
lossoms so feathery, that the slightest breeze sets them in 
Motion. When full grown, the plant attains a height of 
eight or ten feet. 
_ (Mr. Drummond proceeds to give some particulars respect- 
Ing the action of the poisonous plant, which had been men- 
Tote by him in former communications. Our readers will, 
Perhaps, be surprised to learn that the heaviest drawback to 
the Prosperity of the Swan River colony, consists, not so 
much in storms, droughts, failure of crops, and the various 
