AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION. 171 
water of the sea. It equally resists the attacks of termites. In these 
properties the Bed Gum tree of our own country largely shares. The 
Mahogany Eucalypt has, in the Botanic Gardens of this city, been 
brought for the first time largely under cultivation, and, as clearly the 
natural supply of this important timber will, sooner or later, prove 
inadequate to the demanded requirements, it must be regarded as a 
wise measure of the Governments of Prance and Italy now to establish 
this tree on the Mediterranean shores, a measure for which still greater 
facilities are here locally afforded. 
The Tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) is another of the famed 
artisan's woods of south-western Australia. The Karri Eucalypt (Eu- 
calyptus colossea or diversicolor) attains in favourable spots a height of 
400 feet. Eucalyptus megacarpa constitutes the Blue Gum tree, which 
rivals with that of Tasmania and Victoria in size, but is otherwise 
very distinct. Its timber, as well as that of the Tuart, on account of 
their hardness, are employed for tramways and other works of durabi- 
lity. The fragrant wood of several species of Santalum forms an 
article of commercial export. Some kinds of Casuarina, quite pecu- 
liar to that part of Australia, furnish superior wood for shingles and 
for a variety of implements. Several species of Acacia, especially 
Acacia acuminata, the Raspberry-scented Wattle, equally restricted to 
the south-west coast, yield fragrant and "remarkably solid wood and a 
pure gum. To this part of Australia was naturally also restricted the 
Acacia lophantha, which has, for the sake of its easy and rapid growth 
ai ^l its umbrageous foliage, assumed such importance even beyond 
Australia for temporary shelter-plantation. Many other products, 
such as gum-resins, sandarach, tanner's bark, all of great excellence, 
are largely available ; but these substances show considerable simi- 
larity to those obtained in other Australian colonies. 
The extraordinary abundance, however, of the Xant/wrrhceas through 
m °st parts of the south-west territory gives special interest to the fact 
(1845) promulgated by Stenhouse, that anthrazotic, or nitro-picric 
acid--a costly dye— may, with great ease and little cost, be prepared 
from the resin of these plants. Indeed, this is the richest source for 
ftfe acid, the resin yielding half its weight in dye. Fibre of great ex- 
cellence and strength is obtained from the bark of Pimelea clavata, a 
hush widely distributed there. It resembles that of bast from Pimelea 
Q tiflora in Gippsland, and that from Pimelea microcephala of the 
