THE AUSTRALIAN CYCADS 27 



of school geographies show the United States on a 

 large scale and other countries on a small scale. As a 

 matter of fact, it is a 1,200-mile trip from Auckland to 

 Sydney, and the boats, not being Atlantic liners, require 

 four days for the passage. 



Sydney has a population of 600,000 and claims the 

 finest harbor and docks in the world. Of course the 

 botanical garden was the first object of interest, and its 

 well-known director, Professor J. H. Maiden, gave me 

 every facility for study and directions for reaching the 

 cycad locaHties of New South Wales, besides introduc- 

 tions to the botanists' of Queensland. 



In this magnificent garden all the genera of cycads, 

 except the Cuban Microcycas and the Queensland 

 Bowenia, were growing in the open under natural con- 

 ditions. Practically all the cycads of New South Wales 

 are represented, and there are fine specimens of African 

 forms. A week was well spent in making notes and 

 photographs and in gaining familiarity with forms not 

 seen in American greenhouses. 



Two genera, Macrozamia with about a dozen species 

 and Bowenia with two species, are confined to Australia, 

 and Cycas, the genus which extends from Japan to 

 AustraHa, is represented by four species. 



MACROZAMIA 



The name Macrozamia was doubtless intended to 

 mean "the big Zamia," and one of the species, Macroza- 

 mia Hopei, is the tallest of the cycads, reaching a height 

 of sixty feet, so that the name is not inappropriate. 



Some of the species have tuberous, subterranean 

 stems seldom appearing above the surface; others have 



