440 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D 
Asystasia australasica, Bail., n.sp. 
A rather showy plant, about 15 or 18 inches high ; flowers, 
pale blue. Found in the scrub under the shade of trees. In 
flower, June. 
Acanthus ilicifolius, Linn. ‘ Holly-leaved Bear’s Breech.” 
Stems, 2 to 5 feet high. Leaves glossy, oblong, the margins 
often prickly. Found in the salt-water swamps under the 
mangroves. 
Justicia procumbens, Linn. 
A common weed in many parts of Australia. 
Eranthemum variabile, R. Br. 
A most variable, but pretty plant, common to all Queensland 
scrubs. The large form is the one mostly met with on the island, 
which is often purple on the underside of the leaf. 
Verbenacee. (Verbena Family.) 
Premna obtusifolia, R. Br. 
A tall spreading shrub; leaves almost orbicular ; flowers in 
terminal corymbose panicles, small, white. Drupes, 2 or 3 lines 
diameter. Found growing near the beach. 
LP. integrifolia, Linn. var. 
Specimens, which may be a variety of this species, were gathered 
by Mr. E. Cowley two or three years ago. 
Clerodendron inerme, R. Br. 
A tall shrub, common along the coast, is also met with at about 
high-water mark. The leaves are mostly ovate-elliptic, on rather 
long stalks. The flowers, with corolla tube, about 1 inch long ; the 
stamens protruding about 1 inch. Drupe obovoid. 
Gmelina macrophylla, Benth. 
A small tree, with very large somewhat slate-coloured leaves, 
often 8 inches long and 5 inches broad. On the main land the 
leaves at times are 18 inches long and 9 inches broad. The two 
or four flat glands near the base of the blade very prominent ; 
these are referred to by Baron Mueller in one of his Fragmentas, 
but are not noticed by Bentham in the Flora Austr, 
Avicennia officinalis, Linn. ‘ White Mangrove.” 
Amongst all the mangrove trees this is at once detected by the 
breathing processes which arise from its roots. Mr. E. Palmer 
says that the fruit of this tree is baked or steamed by the natives, 
in hollows made in the ground, in which they make fires; it is 
soaked, and afterwards baked in the ashes. 
