PHYSIOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALASIA. 



1345 



lovely order of plants, Dcndrobhims and Bulbophyllnms being predominant. Bamboos s<-<-m 

 even limited to one or two species, while of Palms our records muster as y<-t hardly 

 twenty for all Queensland, three of the Rattan-tribe (species of Cn/mnits), the tall half- 

 silvery Alexandra-palm being of rather wide distribution, but the Alice and tin; Beatrice 



THE AUSTRALIAN GRASS-TREE (Xant horr licea Arborea). 



palm singularly local, whereas Ptychosperma Ciinniugliami comes as far south as Shoal- 

 haven. Palm-Pines (Cycadea), as perpetuators of a largely bygone vegetation of geologic 

 ages, no longer existing in the living indigenous vegetation of Europe, reach in Australia 

 their greatest and the most varied display in the eastern regions. True to the general 

 characteristics of intra-tropical forests, gregarious trees cede also here mostly to intermingled 

 species of many different orders ; thus Eucalyptus loses its predominance, but Dammara 



