28 THE LIVING CYCADS 



a short, stocky trunk, while the one just mentioned is 

 tall and slender. No other cycads look so much like 

 palms as do some of the species, like Macrozamia 

 spiralis and nearly related forms. The genus is identi- 

 fied by a single spine, sometimes rather long, terminating 

 the scales of both male and female cones. 



Macrozamia spiralis, one of the species with tuberous 

 stems, sometimes grows in such profusion that it forms 

 dense thickets, a rare thing for a cycad. Some species 

 are small and scattered, so that they are likely to be 

 overlooked. 



A beautiful species, Macrozamia Denisoni, grows on 

 Tambourine Mountain, west of Brisbane. Mr. J. F. 

 Bailey, at that time director of the botanical garden at 

 Brisbane, but now director of the botanical garden of 

 Adelaide, went with me, fearing lest in my limited time 

 I might not be able to find the plant. It reaches a height 

 of twenty feet, and the long, graceful leaves are very 

 glossy and have a peculiar tinge of reddish purple. 



Returning to Brisbane, I told Mr. Bailey that I had 

 heard that the ''staghorn fern," Platycerium, was 

 abundant in the vicinity, but that I had seen only a few 

 small specimens. He kindly arranged another trip, 

 which proved to be one of the most delightful experiences 

 in all my travels. After an hour's journey by rail a 

 young man who had been sent to meet us with a carriage 

 took us for a couple of hours' ride through the Australian 

 bush and brought us to the coast. We started in a 

 rowboat for a little island about a mile offshore but were 

 soon met by a launch and taken to the island, ''Tabby 

 Tabby Island," owned by William Gibson, who, with 

 his family, occupied the only house. As a quiet, restful, 



