34 SYLVICULTURE IN THE TROPICS n .i 



In tropical Australia the wet zone is confined to the 

 slopes on the north-east coast and to a small strip in 

 the northern part of the northern territory. The tree 

 flora here belongs to the same type as in the Indo- 

 Malayan region, many of the genera being identical 

 (and in some cases even the species being the same). 

 Among other of these genera can be mentioned : 

 Cedrela Elaeocarpus, Calophyllum, Pittosporum, 

 Terminalia, Albizzia, Alstonia, Gmelina, Sarco- 

 cephalus, and Cinnamomum. Added to these there are 

 a large number of Eucalypts (some sixty species in 

 Queensland), the conifers being represented by Podo- 

 carpus and Araucaria, and Acacia by several species. 



Excluding Eucalypts, among the best-known timber 

 trees are: 1 the Ked Cedar (Cedrela Toona), the Bean 

 tree (Castanospermum australe), Tulip wood (Harpulia 

 pendida), Yellow wood (Sarcocephalus cordatus), 

 Swamp Mahogany (Tristania suaveolens), the Tea tree 

 of Queensland or Paper bark of northern territories 

 (Melaleuca leucadendron) , and several others, while 

 Spice barks (known locally as Sassafras) are obtained 

 from two species of Cinnamomum, and the barks of 

 several Acacias are used for tanning. 



To sum up shortly, we have in the desert zone hardly 

 any vegetation at all. What there is consists mostly of 

 thorny hard herbs and undershrubs widely scattered, 

 or, in depressions, a few thorny shrubs. In the arid 

 zone the vegetation is also mostly thorny and occasion- 

 ally fleshy ; trees are few or small, and the foliage is 

 deciduous through the drier months. Often, in 

 order to reduce transpiration, it is finely pinnate 

 or bipinnate, and occasionally it is coriaceous and 

 persistent. Grass covers the greater part of the ground, 

 but dies soon after the rains. This is a reinon of 

 " savannahs" passing into " thorn-forest." 2 In the dry 

 zone trees begin to take a better development. The forest 



1 Australian Handbook, 1903. 



-' These terms, used in this summary, are adopted from Schimper'a Plant 

 Geography, 



