308 GENERAL VIEW OF THE 



Leafless Acad ce ; Ej)acridea ; Goodenovioi ; and Comjiositce. 

 And the more conspiciions plants, not belonging to any of 

 these families, and which greatly contribute to give a 

 character to the landscape, are, Kingia aiistralis, a species 

 of Xanfhorrltaa ; a Zamia, nearly allied to, and perhaps 

 not distinct from, Z. spiralis of the east coast, although it 

 is said frequently to attain the height of thirty feet ; a 

 species of Callitris ; one or two of Casuarina ; an Kro- 

 carpus, probably not different from E. cupressiformis ; and 

 Niff/fsia florihuncla} a plant hitherto referred to Loranthus, 

 but sufficiently distinct in the texture and the form of its 

 fruit, and now named in memory of the discoverer of that 

 part of the coast to which this very singular tree is nearly 

 limited. 



If an opinion were to be formed of the nature of the 

 country merely from the inspection of these collections, it 

 certainly would be extremely unfavorable as to the quality 

 of the soil ; for not only do the prevailing families already 

 enumerated, but the whole of the genera of those families, 

 and even many of the species, agree with those found on 

 the shores of King George's Sound, which, with the ex- 

 ception of a few patches of very small extent, seem abso- 

 lutely incapable of cultivation. 



The opinion so formed, however, would be necessarily 

 modified in noticing the entire want in the collections of 

 IS] tribes, all of which must be supposed to exist, and some 

 even in considerable proportion, in the tract examined ; 

 in allowing for the unfavorable season when the herbarium 

 was collected ; in admitting the statements in Mr. Eraser's 

 report, respecting the abundance and luxuriance of AntJds- 

 firia austral is — the Kangaroo- grass of New South Wales ; 

 from the account given in the same report of the extra- 

 ordinary size of some arborescent species of Banhsia, which, 

 in the neighbourhood of King George's Sound, generally 

 form small trees only ; and lastly, in adverting to the im- 

 portant fact stated by Captain Stirling in his despatch to 

 Government — namely, that the stock had not only been 



^ Loranthus floribundus. LahUl. Nov. Iloll. i, p. 87, i. 113. 



