3S 



The great Australian continent, though abounding in distinct 

 types of vegetation and possessing a tropical climate over a large 

 portion of its surface, does not include many representatives of 

 this beautiful family, which a few degrees farther north are so 

 numerous in the islands of the Malayan Archipelago. This is 

 doubtlessly due to the comparative dryness of the climate and 

 the peculiar conformation of the surface, which is somewhat 

 basin-shaped, the higher parts being near the coasts, the large 

 central portion presenting a flat extent of land, mostly arid and 

 desert-like, but relieved in a few localities by slight elevations. 

 In such a country we could not expect to find any remarkable 

 luxuriance of epiphytal vegetation like the humid forests of 

 Brazil produce, and we have instead an abundance of those 

 peculiar dry-climate types, such as the members of the Rue 

 family, the Eucalypti, the Proteas, and others, mostly dis- 

 tinguished by firm or leathery foliage, which frequently possesses 

 powerful aromatic odours. In a few distric's, however, Orchids 

 are found, and these include several beautiful species. They are 

 nearly all natives of some part of the east coast from Moreton 

 Bay to Torres Straits, but the terrestrial species far exceed the 

 epiphytes in number ; and though outside the genera Dendrobium, 

 Cymbidium, and Sarcochilus there are few of the latter class, 

 yet the others are represented by such genera as Thelymitra, 

 Cadadenia, and Pterostylis, which are scarcely known in English 

 gardens, though two familiar terrestrial Orchids have been 

 observed there namely, Phaius grandifolius and Calanthe 

 veratrifolia : but these can only be regarded as strays from more 

 northern latitudes. With these exceptions the terrestrial Orchids 

 of Australia do not possess much value in a horticultural point 

 of view. 



The lovely Dendrobiums superbiens is one of the best of the 

 twenty forms of that genus found in Australia ; several others, as 

 the tongue-shaped . D. linguseforme, and the Gherkin-like 

 D. cucumerinum, being interesting curiosities. Some have strange 

 positions, thus D. semulum has been seen growing upon " the 

 rugged Eucalyptus, in the open dry forests near Port Jackson." 

 D. undulatum grows upon " barren hills, in tufts, on bare rocks, 

 exposed to the full heat of the sun, and D. linguaeforme is also 

 found upon moss-covered rocks near Port Jackson and Moreton 

 Bay. 



As might be expected, there is a great range in the tempera- 

 ture of so large an extent of land, the mean annual temperature 

 varying from 60 deg. in the south to 80 deg. in the north ; and the 

 annual rainfall also varies considerably namely, from 80 inches on 

 some parts of the east coast to 12 inches, or even less probably, 

 in the drier regions, so that it is of much importance to know the 

 precise locality from which plants are obtained. 



