701 



AUSTRALIA. 



AUSTRALIA. 



702 



so unlike that of all other countries as the middle and southern parts 

 of Australia. The plants, like the animals, are to a very considerable 

 extent of so peculiar an organisation, that a large proportion of the 

 genera and some entire natural orders are absolutely unknown beyond 

 its shores or dependent islands. So different from others are many of 

 the commonest plants that Burman, a Dutch botanist of the school 

 of Linnseus, actually mistook one of the leguminous species for a fern. 

 Trees are there with the leaves twisted constantly out of their ordi- 

 nary position, and with their functions inverted (Eucalyptus), or with 

 transformed and dilated leaf-stalks performing the office of leaves 

 (Acaciai) ; and this so commonly, that, according to the computation 

 of Dr. Brown, " if taken together and considered with respect to the 

 mass of vegetable matter they contain, calculated from the size as well 

 as number of the individuals, they are perhaps nearly equal to all the 

 other plants of that country." 



We can here give no more than a sketch of the general relation of 

 its plants to those of other countries, together with notices of a few 

 of the most curious and characteristic of its vegetable productions. 

 Perhaps the best method of explaining the nature of the peculiar 

 vegetation of Australia will be by offering in the first place a general 

 view of the characteristic forms of the Flora within the colony of New 

 . Wales and to the southward of it, including Van Diemen's 

 Land ; and by afterwards explaining how it alters in character as it 

 approaches the north till it finally melts into that of the Malayan 

 Archipelago. 



In the southern parts of Australia we find the concentration of all 

 those curious forms of vegetation for which the country is so remark- 

 able. Forests consisting of many species of gigantic Eucalypti, by the 

 settlers called gum-trees, many of which are 150 feet high, with a 

 girth of from 25 to 40 feet ; among which are intermingled wattle- 

 trees (Acaciat), with their countless myriads of yellow tufted flowers 

 and bean-like pods ; wild figs of enormous size, furnishing a grateful 

 food to regent birds (Sericidm chryioctphalut), blue pigeons, and 

 swamp pheasants (Cucvlv* Pkafianus) ; and in some places numerous 

 ScaforthUi palms constitute the wooded part of the country. In 

 shaded places near Portjackson the Corypha A uttralis outspreads its 

 umbrageous leaves, heavily contrasting with the light and delicate 

 many-parted fronds of occasional tree-ferns. Nettles of an arborescent 

 habit from 15 to 20 feet high are not uncommon, to which may be 

 added multitudes of proteaceous plants with their hard and woody 

 leaves, giving a most singular appearance to the places where they 

 grow ; hair-branched weeping casuarinas and myrtaceous plants with 

 white blossoms studding their deep green box-like leaves, or with 

 tassels of yellow, purple, or crimson stamens, contribute to produce 

 the first sensation of surprise in a stranger who explores the wilds of 

 the uncleared country. But it is among the plants of a smaller growth 

 and a less conspicuous appearance that the botanist recognises the 

 greatest number of new and strictly Australian forms. The thou- 

 sands of compound flowering plants are all of a structure with which 

 he is unacquainted elsewhere : in place of the heaths and the geraniums, 

 the ixias and other irideous plants, the fig-marigolds and wood-sorrels 

 that diversify so beautifully the under-growth of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, he finds thousands of Epacridece, some with scarlet and many 

 with lilac, or white, or rosy blossoms ; purple Tremandrece, polygaleous 

 plants, yellow-flowered species of the Jtillenia tribe looking like 

 shrubby buttercups, and vast numbers of yellow-and-brown-flowered 

 decandrous papilionaceous bushes. The Orchidete of the Cape and of 

 the southern districts of South America are represented by totally 

 different genera, having however a more decided resemblance to those 

 of the latter than of the former country ; while the Dioimece of those 

 two regions are unknown, although the order exists in abundance in 

 the form of the exclusively Australian genera Phebalvum, Boronia, 

 Zieria, Correct, and Erioitemon which give a striking appearance to 

 many places. The common weeds too of the land are often not less 

 peculiar : many of the umbelliferous plants are remarkable objects, 

 especially the beautiful Didacul cccruleue ; while Goodenovice, a curious 

 tribe nearly related to LoMiai, and Stylidiece, still more singular 

 objects with a slender irritable column of stamens, contribute here 

 and there to the wonders by which the traveller is astonished. If to 

 these we add a rich sward of grasses, among which the Kangaroo 

 Grass (Anthittiria Auttralis) is invaluable to the colonist ; festoons of 

 the lovely Tccoma A ut/ralis, a climbing trumpet flower ; pines belong- 

 ing to the genus Callitrit, and resembling cypresses ; little twining 

 EUlardierat with narrow bells of green or yellow ; the singular 

 Zamiat with the trunk of a dwarf palm and the leaves of a fern, 

 which with Xanthorr/uea are characteristic of soil that the settler 

 will do well not to select ; and finally extensive plains in the interior 

 terminating in morasses choked up with gigantic reeds the botanist 

 may form some idea of the vegetation in the south-eastern part 

 of Australia. 



To the southward it changes but little to the eye of the ordinary 

 observer, although the naturalist may discern signs of an approach to 

 a colder than European climate in the buttercups, anemones, and 

 polygonums that appear in abundance in the high land of Van 

 Diemen's Land. Malvaoeous plants become uncommon, casuarinas 

 gradually disappear, palms shrink before the cold blasts from the 

 southern pole and migrate northward ; and but a single species of 

 tree-fern extends its territory to Van Diemen's Land. The Celery- 



;opped Pine (Podocarpus asplenifolia), whose leaves taste as well as 

 iook like those of the plant from which it derives its name, and 

 some species of Cattttris, form trees of remarkable appearance, rising 

 on the sides of the mountains at a height of 4000 feet, and growing 



m 50 to 70 feet high. 



Towards the westward the same general characteristics of the 

 scenery, varied chiefly by soil, mountains, or other circumstances, 

 still continue to exist. The shores of the promontory of Cape Jervis 

 at the entrance of the Gulf of St. Vincent are bordered with mangrove 

 swamps, and the mountainous land at the back of the coast line is 

 covered with trees of more than ordinary size : on the very brow of 

 Mount Lofty, at 2400 feet above the level of the sea, trees have been 

 measured of 43 feet girth. The vegetation of the neighbouring dis- 

 tricts is however of a far less luxuriant description. 



About King George's Sound, the extreme south-western portion of 

 the continent, the general appearance of the country, although of a 

 barren nature, is very picturesque. The hills are strewed with a 

 profusion of beautiful shrubs flourishing among immense blocks of 

 granite ; BanTcsias, one of which is called by the colonists wild honey- 

 suckle, are of extraordinary beauty ; grass-trees are abundant ; and 

 the forests consist of swamp-oaks (Ctunarina) and gum-trees (Eu- 

 calyptus), the timber of which is however usually decayed at the heart. 

 No grass fit for pasture grows on the plains, which are overrun with 

 a coarse herbage. Culinary vegetables in the form of a kind of parsley 

 (Apium prostratum), and of a common European species of orach 

 (Atriplex Halimus), are abundant in a wild state, and afford the settlers 

 an agreeable food. Here occurs a singular exception to the almost 

 universal lai^in the vegetable kingdom, that truly parasitical genera 

 are incapable of growing in the earth : on all the coasts of Australia 

 the Loranthus is found growing sparingly like mistletoe upon the 

 branches of Eucalyptus, Casuarina, Acacia, and Melalcuca; bxit in 

 King George's Sound a terrestrial species occurs forming a small tree 

 15 feet high. 



The flora of the Swan River district, as it is produced in a more 

 northern latitude, changes a little from that of King George's Sound. 

 The plants consist principally of species belonging to the Protea, 

 Myrtle, Epacrit, and compound-flowered tribes, and to the leafless 

 part of the genus Acacia. The singular production called Grass-Tree 

 by the colonists (Kinyia Amtralii) rises upon the sandy plains in 

 solitary uncouthness in the shape of scorched and blackened cylin- 

 drical trunks, terminated by tufts of long grassy leaves. A remark- 

 able species of Xanthorrhcea, a Zamia with a stem sometimes 30 feet 

 high, many individuals of the genus Caiuarina remarkable for their 

 long weeping thread-like branches, and some of the pine tribe belong- 

 ing to the genus Callitris and resembling the Norfolk Island pine in 

 character, give a peculiar aspect to the landscape. Kangaroo-grass is 

 said to form here as in New South Wales a rich and luxuriant herbage ; 

 Sankiiae which at King George's Sound are only small trees, here 

 acquire extraordinary dimensions, one of them (B. grandis) occurring 

 50 feet high and more than 2J feet in diameter. A noble species of 

 gum-tree (Eucalyptus calophytta) forms a beautiful object in the 

 scenery. The latter and several other species of the same genus here, 

 as in so many other parts of Australia, form the common timber of the 

 country. Magnificent Mdaleucaa with scarlet flowers abound, together 

 with Leptoipermo, resembling weeping willows, and fragrant species 

 <>f Mctroaiderot, all cut off from the river by a belt of rushes of great 

 height and thickness. The island of Buache is overrun with immense 

 thickets of a Solanum 10 feet high, and multitudes of arborescent 

 species of Metrosiderot. 



It is especially deserving of mention that in this part of the conti- 

 nent the vegetation of the singular plants called by botanists protea- 

 ceous, while it retains its own peculiar Australian features, yet presents 

 a greater resemblance to the corresponding part of the flora of South 

 Africa than that of the east side, among which a perceptible tendency 

 to the South American forms exists, according to the observation of 

 Dr. Brown. 



Turning from this side of the continent, and resuming the conside- 

 ration of the flora of the eastern coast, we find that as we approach 

 the equator from the colony of New South Wales the appearance of 

 the plants gradually changes. But a little to the northward a variety 

 of differences are observable : the little Sillardieras all disappear; the 

 Araucaria pine begins to meet the view in Norfolk Island, and becomes 

 plentiful within the influence of the sea air ; the singular genus Pan- 

 damn, which looks like a pine-apple growing on a palm trunk, rears 

 its slender stem among the woodland scenery; the blue gum-trees 

 (Eucalyptus pfperita) acquire stupendous dimensions ; and a singular 

 proteaceous plant resembling Knightia excelta appears as a common 

 timber-tree. 



Near Moreton Bay the tops of the mountains are covered with a 

 vegetation similar to that which is common around Sydney, the dif- 

 ference in latitude and the approach to the equator being as usual 

 compensated by elevation of surface. In the lowlands the forests 

 abound in a gigantic nettle and in the valuable Cheatuut-Bean (Gasta- 

 nospermwm, A uitrale), whose seeds when roasted afford a wholesome 

 nutriment to the natives. Here also in the forests near Brisbane Town 

 Mr. Frazer observed " several species of FKUI upwards of 160 feet high 

 inclosing immense iron-bark trees (Eucalyptus rainifera), on which 

 originally the seeds of those fig-trees had been deposited by birds. 



