Feb. 1903.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBUKGH 323 



The nbain watershed line is not an original axis of 

 elevation, but on the contrary has assumed its present 

 position by a long continuous process of denudation and 

 erosion from a once extensive highland existing during later 

 Eocene, or early Miocene times. High ridges of Silurian 

 slates, in which auriferous quartz veins occur, as Mount 

 Feathertop, 6300 ft. above sea-level, and bold rounded 

 mountains of granite or granitiform gneiss, and metamorphic 

 rocks, as Mounts Buffalo, 6000 ft., and Bogong, 6508 ft., 

 stand out on the lateral watershed lines. Some of the peaks 

 on the main watershed line, such as the Cobberas Mountain, 

 6075 ft., are the cores and surrounding consolidated ash- 

 beds, etc., of old palaeozoic volcanoes of Lower Devonian 

 age. While on the flanks of the Main Divide, isolated and 

 now elevated remnants of the old Middle Devonian seabeds 

 occur as limestone or sandstone beds, at an elevation of 

 from 1000 to 3000 feet, as at Bindi, Buchan, Tabberabbera, 

 etc. Massive conglomerated sandstones, and inter-bedded 

 igneous rocks, forming rugged heights and clifis of Upper 

 Devonian age, cover a considerable portion of the area, as 

 the bold escarpments of the Moroka Valley at Snowy Bluff, 

 and Mount Tambo, near Omeo Plains. 



Magnificent Eucalyptus forests clothe the sub-alpine 

 levels, certain species, as Eucalyptus sieheriana, occurring in 

 altitudinal zones, others, as B. Gunnii, E. stellulata, and 

 E. iMucifiora, struggle up as stunted gnarled stems to the 

 elevation of 6800 ft. on the northern slopes. At the 

 highest elevations arboraceous vegetation is entii^ely absent, 

 or represented by low diffuse and gnarled varieties of E. 

 pav.ciflora. Several of the herbaceous plants of the higher 

 altitudes may be cultivated as esculents, and others used 

 medicinally. The edible plants of cold temperate climates 

 could be cultivated successfully in a large extent of this 

 mountainous country. 



There is great variation in many composite herbs of 

 the Australian Alps during different seasons, sports being 

 abundant in dry seasons, and the reversion to foliaceous 

 forms very remarkable. 



Among medicinal plants flourishing in the sub-alpine 

 areas are Atlierosjicrma moscliatv.vi (or native sassairas), 

 Eaviesia latifolia (the native hop), Comesj^ernia vohdile. 



