3G4. NATIVE TTILIP-TliEE OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 
ciosissima, E, Br.) belongs. ^The leaves are oblong, more or less un- 
equally toothed, and from 4 to 6 or 8 inches in length, dark-green, but 
when just expanding, of a dark-red colour. The fruit is a pod containing 
many winged seeds. The Waratah is indigenous to, and grows luxuri- 
antly and in abundance in the vicinity of Sydney, and other parts of 
New South Wales, and when first described by botanists, was classed 
with a genus now known as Grevillea^ named Embothrium speciosissimmn^ 
and figured under that name in Smith's * New Holland Plants,' and in 
Curtis*s' Botanical Magazine' (edited by Pr. Sims). It afterwards 
formed a new genus, called Telopea, derived from telopas (seen at a dis- 
tance), from its bright crimson blossoms being discernible far off, and 
those who have had an opportunity of seeing this plant in flower, either 
wild or cultivated, will readily admit the correctness of this name. 
There are some peculiarities of its natural habits, and reproduction, 
worthy of notice. The first year the Waratah blossoms it throws out 
from two to four shoots from each flower-head, in the second year 
only two, and in subsequent years only one, or more rarely two,* To 
asceiiain the way these shoots are produced, it is necessary to procure a 
flower -head full-blown or just fading, and on looking closely among 
the flowers, from one to two or four young shoots will be observed 
just developing themselves, and these will form the branches of the 
following year, from each of which a flower-head will most likely be 
produced. A knowledge of this fact will explain wby the plucking of 
the flowers destroys the new branches, injuring its natural develop- 
ment, and keeping the shrub stunted in groAvth, and preyents its 
flowering in the ensuing year. The Waratah produces seeds every 
second year. A tree growing in a garden at Hunter's Hill, in the 
vicinity of Sydney, five years old, and 10 feet high, produced last year 
as many as twenty fine heads of flowers at one time, forming a gor- 
geous sight ; and in a tree growing in the Botanic Gardens at Sydney, 
I observed, this spring, from one flowering branch produced last year, 
three stems that had grown, each of which w^as now crowned by a 
magnificent full-blown flower-head. 
When a Waratah-tree grows in a dense thicket of shrubs, or among 
• I have requested the Propagator of the Botanic Garden here to try to 
" strike " a flower ^hen ^ith healthy shoots, and I am curious to learn whether 
the experiment will succeed. I enclose a flower with four shoots for jour 
inspection. 
