AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION, 
The great continent of Australia exhibits through- 
out its varied zones marked diversities in the physi- 
ognomy of its vegetation. These differences stand 
less in relation to geographical latitudes than to geo- 
logical formations, and especially climatical condi- 
tions. Yet it is in few localities only where the pecu- 
liar features, impressed by nature as a whole on the 
Australian landscape, cannot at once be recognized. 
The occurrence of Eucalypts and simple-leaved Aca- 
cias in all regions, and the preponderance of these 
trees in most, suffice alone to demonstrate that in 
Australia we are surrounded largely by forms of the 
vegetable world which, as a complex, nowhere re-oc- 
cur beyond its territory, unless in creations of ages 
passed by. 
In a cursory glance at the vegetation, as intended 
on this occasion, it is not the object to analyze its 
details. In viewing vegetable life here, more parti- 
cularly as the exponent of clime, or as the guide for 
settlement, or as the source of products for arts and 
manufactures, we may content ourselves by casting a 
view only on the leading features presented by the 
world of plants in this great country. While the 
absence of very high and wooded mountains imparts 
to the vegetation throughout a vast extent of Austra- 
lia a degree of monotony, we perceive that the occur- 
