AUSTRALIAN TREES AND SHRUBS. 97 



near Lyndhurst, the residence of Mr. Reginald Hargreaves, 

 and in the public and private gardens in and around Bourne- 

 mouth there are some Australian trees well deserving of 

 notice. 



TYPES OF AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION. 



In Australia, according to Maiden, there are three grand 

 types of vegetation, viz., the brilliant flowering plants of the 

 sandy plains of Western Australia, the luxurious vegetation 

 of eastern Queensland and New South Wales, and the alpine 

 plants of Tasmania. The rain forests of Western Tasmania, 

 with their almost impenetrable masses of beech woods, are 

 very remarkable when compared w r ith the 'general features 

 of Australian vegetation. Certain families of plants are 

 almost entirely confined to Australia, especially the 

 phyllodineous acacias, and the numerous gum trees. The 

 latter, numbering in all 230 species, are to be met with every- 

 where. The acacias are still more numerous and reach a 

 total of 412 species. Again, the adaptability of the Australian 

 trees to a dry climate is wonderful ; and in this respect, taking 

 into account the variety of ways in which the destructive 

 effects of a scorching sun and parched soil are guarded against, 

 the Australian flora is without parallel the world over. These 

 adaptations do not indicate, as is supposed, a primitive 

 origin, but are to be accepted as evidence of high specialisation 

 of a singularly interesting character. 



GUM TREES IN GENERAL. 



Among the most notable of the Australian trees grown 

 out-of-doors in this country, the gum trees (Eucalyptus) 

 easily come first. They belong to the myrtle family and thus 

 are allied to the common myrtle of our gardens. They are 

 called gum trees from the fact that they yield a resinous gum 

 from their trunks. A saccharine substance resembling 



