CYCADALES 



69 



it 9 species; but there are certainly more, some of them, like M.fra- 

 seri, with its unique cones, and M. macdonnellii, with its immense 

 seeds, being very sharply marked. 



Perhaps the most variable species is Macrozamia spiralis. At Avo- 

 ca, near Sydney, it forms almost impenetrable thickets, extending 

 almost to the high-tide Hne of the ocean. New South Wales has 



Fig. 60. — Macrozamia moorei: a poisoned specimen at Springsure, Queensland, Aus- 

 tralia, showing the notch and the hole into which arsenic was placed to kill the plant. — 

 After Chamberlain."* 



several other species, bearing more or less resemblance to M. spi- 

 ralis and probably related to it. Some of them extend as far west 

 as the Blue Mountains. All of these have tuberous, more or less sub- 

 terranean, stems. The most abundant species with a tuberous stem, 

 north of this region, is M. miquelii, in Queensland. It is at its best 

 around Rockhampton and Byfield. 



The arborescent species flourish in Queensland. Macrozamia deni- 

 soni, on Tambourine Mountain, has been called the most beautiful 

 of all cycads. It is often more than 2 meters high. M. hopei is the 



