140 FOREST CULTURE AND 
those of the cooler zone, and even the otherwise al- 
most universal Senecios, are generally absent. Cype- 
rus vaginatus, perhaps the best of all textile rushes, 
ranges from the remotest south to these northern re- 
gions. Hibiscus tiliaceus, with other malvaceous 
plants, is here chosen by the natives for the fibre of 
their fishing-nets and cordage. An occasional inter- 
spersion of the dazzling Erythrina vespertilio, of 
Bauhinia Leichardti, Erythrophleur lLaboucheri, 
Livistonia Palms, and many Terminaliz, some with 
edible fruits, Cochlospermum Gregorii, C. heterone- 
mum, remind, however, of the flora of tropical lati- 
tudes, which, moreover, to the eye of an experienced 
observer, is revealed also in a multitude of smaller 
plants, either identical with South Asiatic species or 
representing in peculiar forms tropical genera. The 
identity of about six hundred Asiatic plants (some 
cosmopolitan) with native Australian species, has been 
placed beyond doubt, and to this series of absolutely 
identical forms, as well derived from the jungle as 
from grounds free of forest, unquestionably several 
hundred will yet be added. 
Melaleuca leucadendron, the Cajeput-tree of India, 
is among Indo-Australian trees one of the most uni- 
versal ; it extends, as one of the largest timber-trees 
of north Australia, along many of its rivers, and in 
diminutive size over the dry sand-stone table-lands. 
The Asiatic and Pacific Casuarina equisetifolia accom- 
panies it often in the vicinity of the coast. By far 
the most remarkable form in the vegetation of north- 
west Australia is the Gouty - stem- tree (Adansonia 
Gregorii) ; but it is restricted to a limited tract of 
coast-country. It assumes precisely the bulky form 
