CHARACTER AND DESCRIPTION [53* 



OF 



KING I A, &c 



(Read before the Linnean Society of London, Nov. 1 and 15, 1825. 



In the Botanical Appendix to the Voijacje to Terra Aus- 

 f rails, I have mentioned aphmt of very reniarka])le appear- 

 ance, observed in the year ISO I, near the shores of King 

 George the Third's Sound, in Mr. WestaU's view of which, 

 pul)hshed in Captain Fhnders' Narrative, it is introduced. 



The phmt in cpiestion was then found with only the 

 imperfect remains of fructification : I judged of its affinities, 

 therefore, merely from its habit, and as in this respect it 

 entirely agrees with Xanthorrha^a, included the short notice 

 given of it in my remarks on Asphodeleae, to which that 

 genus was referred/ Mr. Cunningham, the botanist at- 

 tached to Captain King's voyages, who examined the plant 

 in the same place of growth, in February, 1S18, and in 

 Decend)er, 1821, was not more fortunate than myself. 

 Captain King, however, in his last visit to King George's 

 Sound, in November, 1822, observed it with ripe seeds : 

 and at length Mr. William Baxter, whose attention I had 

 particularly directed to this plant, found it on the shores of 

 the same port in 1823, both in flower and fruit. To this 

 zealous collector, and to his liberal employer, ^Ir. Hench- 

 man, I am indebted for complete specimens of its fructifi- :63& 



' Flinders Voy. vol. ii, /;. 57<). {Ante, p. 51.) 



