IK KLOKA OF A SIN(Jf.K rilKlv 



By H. a. Longman and C. T. White. 



{Read before, the Royal Society of Queensland, 21th August, 



1917.) 



Whilst collecting in the svib-tropical rain-fdrest of 

 Tambourine Mountain in February last, the writers had 

 many opiJortunities of obtaining ferns, creepers and 

 epiphytal orchids from large tiees which had recently 

 been cut down. The idea then occurred that it would be 

 of interest to select a certain tree and collect representatives 

 of the entire plant population, so far as possible, and 

 tabulate a list. After some discrimination in the area in 

 which the axe had been recently employed, a Lauraceous 

 tree, LUsea reticulata (Meiss) Benth., a " Bolly Gum,"* 

 was selected. This tree was chosen for its comparative 

 wealth of accompanying specimens, and also because it 

 had fallen in such a way as to separate its essential or 

 partial dependents from its neighbours in the surrounding 

 rain-forest. It is not suggested, however, that this list 

 represents a probable maximum for a single tree, as under 

 certain circumstances a far larger tree whose foliage was 

 still more interlaced might be selected with more remark- 

 able results. So far as actual specimens, not species, are 

 concerned, Frederick Turner has noted that more than 

 two hundred epiphytal orchids have been observed on one 

 gigantic fig tree, Ficus macrojjhylla.-f and H. TisdallJ notes 



*J. H. Maiden, who gives an excellent illustration in his Forest Flora, 

 V. pi. 170, uses the spelling : " Bolly Gum." This is how it is generally 

 pronounced by timber getters. J. F. Bailey (Qld. Agric. Journ., V, 1899, 

 p. 398), and K. Domin (Pr. Roy. Soc. Qld.. XXIII, 1911, p. (52, associate 

 the term " Bally Gum " in North Queensland with Blepharocarya 

 involucrigera. 



fRep. Brit. Assn., 1914, p. 589. 



J Vic. Nat. Vol. 4, 1887, p. 69. 



