68 Queensland's plant associations 



between Clermont and Rockhamptpn, are in patches in the^ 

 open forest and on many ridges rosewood scrubs. Further 

 westwards, everywhere in the Central and Northern districts^ 

 we find mostly horee and gidya scrub ; both are species of 

 Acacia. Boree prefers good, nutritious soil, and is often 

 found in smaller or larger patches on Kolling Downs. Gidya 

 grows more on ranges and on poor, often rocky soil. Most 

 of the Table Mountains are covered with gidya scrub, but 

 on their top we find regularly " Spinifex" {Triodia) and a set 

 of xerophilous shrubs. All these trees, although of small 

 size, give a splendid hardwood, one of the best I ever saw. I 

 am perfectly satisfied that they will be used to a great extent 

 in the future. As an interesting fact I may mention that 

 this wattle scrub has spread in historical time over open 

 grassy country, as I observed it in Central Queensland, and 

 Inspector J. Shirley informed me that he had noted it 

 between Roma and Taroom in Southern Queensland. 



The trees (boree and gidya) grow very slowly. Many 

 of the trees killed in the big drought of 1902, which I met 

 on the Rolling Downs, must have been surely 100 years old. 

 I regard it as a good testimony that at least during the 

 past century there was in Queensland no drought of such 

 frightful extent. 



On the Main Dividing Range, between the Xorthern 

 and Central Railway there is everywhere a quite different 

 forest association, not mentioned until now. The prevalent 

 tree is an Acacia called laiicewood. It grows very high, 

 has long straight branches and a flat top. The stems are 

 not very thick and the wood splits easily, but the trees a-re 

 very tall, so that these lancewood scrubs are of quite dijfferent 

 character from all other wattle scrubs, which never grow in 

 tall closed forests. Besides these, there are plenty of shrubs 

 in the undergrowth, so that this forest association is closely 

 allied to the forest of Xew South Wales mentioned above. 



These lancewood scrubs are on the rough Desert Sand- 

 stone country, where the conditions are, of course, different 

 from those of the flat country. In some places between 

 Jericho and Alpha, I found forest pockets enclosed by the 

 the lancewood scrub with a most decided line of demarcation. 

 This phenomenon, unobserved until now, is of the same strik- 

 ing nature as the pockets mentioned above. Here is, how- 

 ever, a different reason ; it is the question of soil. The 



