CONTRIBUTION TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OP PAPUAN FLORA. / 



seen— the flowers of Bombax malabaricum (the Silk Cotton 

 tree) — a large tree ranging through North Australia, Nevr 

 Guinea, and Tropical Asia. Round about the rocky sea -coast, 

 near the town, Cochlospermum Gillivrcei (a small tree) is con- 

 spicuous on account of its numerous large, yellow, buttercup- 

 like flowers. Cordia subcordata is another fairi}^ common shrub 

 in the same situation. 



Swampy patches occur in which the Sago Palm {Metroxylon 

 sp.) and Breadfruit {Artocarpus incisa) predominate. The 

 mangrove flora along the southern coast is similar to that of the 

 North Australian and Malayan regions, consisting of Rhizophora. 

 Bruguiera, Ceriops, Sonneratia, Avicennia, Mgiceras, and 

 Carapa. Acanthus iUcifolius is in some parts also abundant. 

 Acommon climber over mangrove trees is Dalbergiamonosperma. 

 Along the Ethel River and Bioto Creek the Nipa Palm {Nipa 

 fruticans) is a conspicuous feature lining both sides of the 

 banks. Along the Ethel River I also collected specimens of the 

 apparently little-known Sonneratia lanceolata. It is a small 

 tree very much resembling some forms of Avicennia officinalis 

 in appearance ; its pneumatophores also are like those of 

 Avicennia, and do not attain the large size of its congener 

 S. alba. 



On the Astrolabe Range (about 3,000 feet), Hombrom 

 Bluff, Mt. Warirata, etc., the vegetation for the most part is 

 of an open character, the principal forest trees being eucalypts 

 (priiicipall}" E. tereticornis) with patches of E. alba and E. 

 clavigera, Casuarina nodiflora, Banksia dentata, Melaleuca sp. 

 (a Paper-barked Tea-tree), Diplanthera tetraphylla, Grevillea 

 pinnatifida, and Timonius Rumphii. At Bisiatabu I was inter- 

 ested to find Nepenthes Moorei to be a common plant in the 

 poorer open, dry, forest country. The lower trees in the same 

 place supported a number of plants of Myrmecodia and 

 Dischidia. On the Sogori Plateau itself the vegetation is very 

 rich and tropical, the plateau being mostly covered with heavy 

 rain-forest in which the usual Malayan orders and genera 

 predominate. Zingiberaceae and Marantacese are particularly 

 abundant. Mucuna Krcetkei is a forest climber with long 

 pendulous racemes of brilliant scarlet flowers and is known 

 locally as the " D'Albertis Creeper," a name applied in a 

 general sense by the wnite people resident in Papua to any 

 climber of the genus Mucuna. 



Sogeri Plateau is a great centre of rubber cultivation, and 



