60 Queensland's plant associations 



the Papuan and Malayan regions (I may mention that 

 all Queensland's pitcher-plants are found here, as Nepenthes 

 Kennedyi, F. v. M., and seven new species described by 

 F. M. Bailey, i.e., N. albo-lineata, Alicae, Bernaysii, Chol- 

 mondeleyi, Jardinei, Moorei, Rowanae). 



The biggest and most marvellous vine-scrubs are found 

 in the coastal districts from Cooktown in the North to 

 Ingham in the South. Townsville itself lies in open forest 

 country, but there are interesting vine-scrubs on Mount 

 Elliot and in many places along the coast southwards. 



The vine-scrubs mentioned above reach their best 

 evolution in the Cairns-Geraidton districts, where are 

 the two highest mountains of Queensland, Bellenden Ker 

 and Bartle Frere, both covered with thick jungles. This 

 part of Queensland has a truly tropical character. We find 

 here wonderful scenery, really unrivalled in its glory and 

 its magnificent variations. There are not only the well- 

 known Barron Falls, which with their unique gorge excel 

 in the rainy season, and especially during the floods, the 

 best scenery of the world, but there are everywhere land- 

 scapes of such beauty, that I never saw better ones, either 

 in the Malayan Peninsula or in Java or elsewhere in the 

 tropics. This fact is worthy to be mentioned, as there are 

 people in Queensland itself who do not guess the wonders 

 of this virgin country, and who visit other tropics for the 

 same purpose. Besides, this is the district the best 

 suited for tropical agriculture, and a sugar cane district far 

 excellence. The climate here, though tropical, is by far 

 more supportable than in the wet tropics, where the tem- 

 perature in the night often only slightly differs from the 

 disagreeable wet heat during the day. 



It would be superfluous in Queensland to give a detailed 

 description of a vine-scrub, besides it was given years ago 

 by Pettigrew and some time ago by Ph. MacMahon. Yine- 

 scrubs presents always a dense and thick forest association, 

 with very little grass in undergrowth, but with plenty of 

 creepers (vines) and any amount of epiphytic plants on the 

 trunks and branches of the trees. Orchids and ferns are 

 the most numerous among them. There are many pecu- 

 liarities in the vine-scrubs : the trees attain usually an 

 enormous height, but their bark is regularly thin and their 

 top not too dense. They are sometimes cauliflor (producing 



