Feb. 1903.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH o41 



hundred species indigenous to Australia. I have noted 

 great variation in the growth of many composite herbs in 

 the AustraHan Alps during different seasons, sports being 

 abundant in dry seasons, and the reversion to foliaceous 

 growths very remarkable. The florets in Microscris 

 Forsteri, for instance, becoming pedicellate and assuming 

 the form of an Umbellifer. The genera Brachycomc, Aster, 

 Senecio, and Helychrysum are most abundant ; Brachycome 

 is represented by the herbaceous species B. decipievs, B. 

 dive rsi folia, etc., which yield a tine carpeting of flowers 

 on the open grassy ridges and flats during early summer, 

 ascending to the alpine regions at the higher plateaux 

 6000 ft. elevation. B. nivalis occurs at the highest 

 elevations up to 7000 ft. 



Aster includes, among other arboreous forms, the ever- 

 scented native musk {A. argcqjhyllus), which attains its 

 greatest luxuriance among the deeply vegetated and shaded 

 glens on the sub-alpine littoral slopes where humidity 

 prevails. Shrubs, as A. stelhdatvs, A. viyrsinoides, are 

 more evenly distributed in open northern areas along the 

 banks of streams, although the latter is represented by 

 dwarfed forms on the lower ridges of the higher plateaux. 

 Such herbs as A. Celmisia, which gives a noticeable 

 character to the physiognomy of the alpine vegetation, 

 Giiaphalium alpigenum, Erigeron 2Jap2Joch7-omns, Antennaria 

 uniceps, and Leontopodium latipes, are apparently restricted 

 to the grassy alpine stations where the hygrometric con- 

 ditions are suitable to their growth ; and shrubs, as A. 

 JIuelleri, A. alpicola, and A. megalophyllns, are common at 

 4000 ft. elevation. 



The Helichrysums, like the Brachycomes, are princi- 

 pally herbaceous, represented both by species on the lower 

 sunny areas of undulating country, as H. scmipapposum , 

 H. apiculatiim, and by the larger-flowered H. bracteatum 

 (syn. JI. lucidiun) on the higher tablelands, and, as remarked 

 in a previous paper, " covering these highlands with fields 

 of bright golden yellow flowers, giving a distinctive 

 character to the landscape ; while at similar elevations 

 the diffuse H. haccharoides covers acres with dense under- 

 growth." 



The new species discovered during the visit of the 



