BOTANICAL NOTES. 



By Ernest H. Isiiig. 

 Summer-flowering Plants. 



The follow in. ^ plants have been observed in flower at 

 Mount Lofty: — 



1. Native Cherry (Exocarpus cupressiformis, LabilL), 

 March to May. The flowers are very small, being about l-25th in. 

 wdde ; they are cream in colour and are very pretty when seen 

 under a lens. The ** cherries," w^hen ripe, are scarlet and abojit 

 i in. long. The family name ** Exocarpus" means fruit outside, 

 and at first glance this seems correct, but actually the scarlet 

 succulent cherry-like part is the stalk of the fruit enlarge^ 

 to the size of the real fruit or even larger. The actual fruit 

 is, of course, at the end of the stalk and appears to be a seed. 

 This tree has the habit of a cypress (hence the name) with its 

 slender, dense, green branchlets, and is much sought after for 

 Christmas decorations. Its leaves are represented by minut':i 

 scales, the branchlets functioning as leaves. It is considered 

 by some botanists to be parasitic, but so far I have not had any 

 definite proof of this. 



2. Oval leaf Goodenia (Goodenia ovata, Smith) has flow- 

 ered at Mount Lofty for many months ; it was in flower in the 

 spring and is still in flower, i.e,, from September to May. The 

 plants are growing in a small gully with the candlebark gum 

 (Eucalyptus rubida, J. H. Maiden) and blackwood (Acacia 

 melanoxylon). This is a damp situation and other plants of 

 this species growing on dry ground on a hillside did not flow^er 

 after the end of the spring. 



3. Brown Stringybark* (Eucalyptus capitellata, Smith). 

 There is a large tree of this stringy in flower at Mount 

 Lofty at the present time ; - it was in flower in Ajiril also. 

 On collecting specimens from this tree I found young seed pods 

 on it, which was evidence that this particular tree had flow^- 

 ered several months earlier as well. November and December 

 are the months of flow^ering for this species at Mount Lofty, and 



/I observed some in flower then, i.e., at the end of last year, 

 but not this actual tree. THis is very unusual for a tree to 

 flower twice in six months, but very likely the dry weather had 

 something to do with this. The tree, is a large one, about 60 

 feet in height and about three feet in diameter at the base. 

 It branches from low^ down on the trunk, and I was therefore 

 able to get specimens without much trouble. Another tree 

 close by was also in flower, and this appeared to be a w^hite 

 stringybark, but as I could not get specimens from it, I was 

 not sure of the species. 



*Maiden names this E. Blaxlandi (C.R., pt. 45, p. 150). 



