608 



lax glyciphylla, abouiuls. It is a low, climbing plant, with navvow, heart-shaped 

 leaves, having a taste something like Spanish liquorice. It was used instead of tea, 

 by the early settlers,, and formed the chief ingredient in their drink, on occasions of 

 rej oicing." — p. 29 1 . 



The following notices of Zamia spiralis and three species of Loran- 

 thus are interesting. 



July 18. — " In a bushy hollow we met with Zamia spiralis, a singular, palm-like 

 plant, in fruit. The whole fruit has some resemblance to a pine-apple ; but large 

 nuts, in red coats, are fixed under the scales forming the outside. The Blacks place 

 these nuts under stones, at the bottom of water, in order to extract some noxious prin- 

 ciple from them ; they are afterwards converted into food. In wet weather, an insipid, 

 jelly-like gum, which is wholesome, and not unpalateable, exudes from the plant. 



"20th. Three species of the genus Loranthus, which consists of plants allied to 

 mistletoe, grow parasitically on trees in this neighbourhood. They have handsome 

 blossoms, a little like honey-suckle, but with more green, than yellow or red in them. 

 Two of them have external roots, adhering to the bark of the trees that support them, 

 and incorporating themselves with it ; but occasionally, one of these species happens 

 to grow upon the other, and then it emits no external root! This is a striking instance 

 of that power, sometimes exhibited by a plant, to adapt itself to circumstances, and 

 which is called vegetable instinct." — p. 294. 



The question of specific identity between the productions of coun- 

 tries so widely separated as Britain and her Australian possessions, is 

 one of great and increasing interest. And when we find the plants 

 and insects of a far distant land named unhesitatingly as identical 

 with our own, we are apt to feel a desire for a more detailed explana- 

 tion. We learn from the 'Narrative' before us, that "on the margins 

 of the pools of the Bell River, there are reeds, — Arundo Phragraites, 

 bull-rushes, — Typha latifolia, and some other aquatic plants, similar 

 to those of England." Are we to infer that these are the aboriginal 

 denizens of the spot, or have their seeds been accidentally introduced 

 from the mother country ? They occur in the valley of Wellington, 

 formerly a penal settlement for educated prisoners, and still the resi- 

 dence of European missionaries. 



On the afternoon of the 25th of September our traveller, still in 

 Wellington Valley, ascended a hill about 500 feet high ; fi'om the 

 summit is an extensive view over the adjoining country, which seems 

 to be a continuation of open forest hills, many of them black and bare 

 fi'om fire. 



" On the upper portion, there were she-oak, Casuarina quadrivalvis, and Grammitis 

 rutaefolius, a small fern, both of which are common in V. D. Land, also a Cycas ? a re- 

 markable Eucalyptus, and Sterculia diversifolia. Upon the last, there was a remark- 

 able Viscum, or mistletoe. Lower down the hill, the beautiful Acacia venusta formed a 

 bush about six feet high ; it bears heads of small, globular, golden blossoms." — p. 322. 



(To be continued). 



