Feb. 1903.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF KDIXHUItGH 330 



Colletia piihescens, a spiny shrub, ascends to 3000 ft. 



Araliace^. — One species of Panax, P. samhiicifoliiis, 

 of very variable habit, ascends to 4000 ft. The leaves in 

 the sub-alpine form are narrower than that in the lowlands, 

 and more pinnate. 



Umbellifer-i:. — Some of the alpine species, such as 

 Aciphylla glacialis, Oreorayrrhis puhinifica, 0. andicola, 

 Huanaca hydrocotylca, Azordla cuneifolia, and A. dicho- 

 petala, and also Didiscus Jmmilis, which flourish best 

 between elevations of 5000 to 7000 ft, are very char- 

 acteristic. A. glacialis is readily eaten by stock, and may 

 become available for culinary purposes by cultivation. 

 A Sescli, S. harveyanvs, is also abundant between 5000 

 and 6000 ft. 



Santalace.e. — In addition to the well-known species, 

 Exocarpos cvpressi/ormis (native cherry tree), which ascends 

 to sub-alpine levels of 4000 ft., several shrubby species, 

 with pleasantly acidulous berries, as E. stricta, E. humifusa 

 (of Polynesian afhnities), and E. nana, ascend, along with 

 Leptomeria apliylla, Omphacomeria acerha, and Ckorelruhi 

 lateriflorum, 4000 to 5000 ft. altitudes. 



In the Proteace.i:, an order whose maximum of species 

 is reached in Western Australia, we have a few apparently 

 endemic forms, as Grcvillea miqucliana, G. alpina, etc. 

 The valuable notes given by the Government botanist in 

 his examination of the " Vegetable Fossils of the Auriferous 

 Drifts of Victoria" (p. 10), appear to indicate some resem- 

 blance between the existing forms of tropical Grevilleas, 

 and the vegetation of the Pliocene era. It is to be hoped 

 that further pakeontological researches may yet be available 

 for correlation purposes, enabling the pre-existing flora to 

 be more satisfactorily compared with the present, and 

 by this means to trace out the successive changes which 

 have taken place, not only in the surface configura- 

 tion, but in the flora and fauna of our present alpine 

 regions. One species of Proteacetu herein referred to, viz. 

 Pii'soonia juniperina, is suggested by Professor Tate, of 



