EUCALYPTUS TREES. 575 
allude to the singularly peculiar vegetation of New 
Zealand, or the gay, curious, and remarkably - varied 
vegetation of West Australia, because we are rightly 
accustomed to regard these neighboring colonies as 
portions of the great integral southern empire of Brit- 
ain; but it requires to have studied the vegetation of 
- Australia and New Zealand specially to appreciate its 
richness, and to understand fully its value for a gar- 
den in a colony like Victoria. 
Thus, for geographic and for systematic culture, 
both primary objects of a botanic garden, singular fa- 
cilities arise to us here, and this I cannot better dem- 
onstrate than by some exemplification. South Africa 
possesses, for instance (according to Mr. Bentham’s 
elaboration, issued by the elder De Candolle in 1839), 
about 400 real Ericas, many so long the charm of Eu- 
ropean green-houses, and there are about 100 more of 
Cape Heaths, though not true Ericas. Collateral to 
the Cape Heaths, and not less handsome, are our own 
Epacridez, with about 200 Styphelias and generically 
allied bushes, and again 70 capsular species of Epacris 
or cognate genera. Professor Harvey and Dr. Sonder, 
in their great work on South African plants, describe 
about 50 Muraltias, 70 Hermannias, over 100 species 
of Oxalis, about 150 species of Aspalathus, and atleast 
150 Everlastings ; among the latter alone, 137 veri- 
table Helichrysums. The Australian Immortelles, 
largely from the West Coast, are in some instances 
still more lovely. They amount to more than 100, 
among them about 50 Helichrysums and 30 Helipter- 
ums. This calculation leaves Everlastings of other 
orders, such as Ptilotus, Laxmannia, Calectasia, etc., 
uncounted. Of all these, as yet comparatively very 
