Notes and Gleanings. 229 



The Waratah, or Native Tulip-Tree of New South Wales. — The 

 flower called by the aborigines " Waratah," and " Native Tulip " by the colo- 

 nists of New South Wales, is considered the most beautiful vegetable produc- 

 tion indigenous to the colony, and is produced from a stiff, erect, and rigid 

 shrub, having the leaves of a hard woody texture, marking the proteads, to 

 which order the waratah {Telopea speciosissi/na, R. Br.) belongs. The leaves 

 are oblong, more or less unequally toothed, and from four to six or eight inches 

 in length ; dark-green, but, when just expanding, of a dark-red color. The fruit 

 is a pod containing many winged seeds. The waratah is indigenous to, and 

 grows luxuriantly and in abundance in, the vicinity of Sydney, and other parts 

 of New South Wales ; and, when first described by botanists, was classed with a 

 genus now known as Grevillea, named Embothritim speciosissi/num, and figured 

 under that name in Smith's " New Holland Plants," and in Curtis's '' Botanical 

 Magazine " (edited by Dr. Sims). It afterwards formed a new genus, called 

 Telopea, derived from telnpas (seen at a distance), from its bright-crimson blos- 

 soms being discernible far off; and those who have had an opportunity of seeing 

 this plant in flower, either wild or cultivated, will leadily admit the correctness 

 of this name. 



There are some peculiarities of its natural habits and reproduction worthy 

 of notice. The first year the waratah blossoms, it throws out from two to four 

 shoots from each flower-head ; in the second year, only two; and in subsequent 

 years, only one, or more rarely two. To ascertain the way these shoots are pro- 

 duced, it is necessary to procure a flower-head, full-blown or just fading : and, 

 on looking closely among the flowers, from one to two or four young shoots will 

 be observed just developing themselves ; and these will form the branches of 

 the following year, from each of which a flower-head will most likely be pro- 

 duced. A knowledge of this fact will explain why the plucking of the flowers 

 destroys the new branch, injuring its natural development, keeping the shrub 

 stunted in growth, and preventing its flowering in the ensuing year. The 

 waratah produces seeds every second year. A tree growing in a garden at 

 Hunter's Hill, in the vicinity of Sydney, five years old, and ten feet high, pro- 

 duced, in 1864, as many as twenty fine heads of flowers at one time, forming a 

 gorgeous sight ; and, in a tree growing in the Botanic Gardens at Sydney, I 

 observed in the spring of 1865, from one flowering-branch produced in the pre- 

 vious year, three stems, each of which was crowned by a magnificent full-blown 

 flower-head. 



When a waratah-tree grows in a dense thicket of shrubs, or among creepers 

 by the side of a wall, in the shade, it runs up to a great elevation, — a tall, slender 

 shrub, seeking the sun's rays ; and to obtain light and air previous to develop- 

 ing its blossoms, in several instances, when so situated, the plants have been 

 seen to attain the height of from ten to twelve feet, or even fifteen feet, and then 

 flowering for the first time. In suitable situations, in their wild state, they 

 usually flower when about four to six feet high ; and, when at that time stripped 

 of their blossoms, they become stunted, devoid of beauty, and so remain until 

 suckers are thrown up from the roots, by which flowering-branches are repro- 

 duced. I have also observed that the rice-paper plant {Tetrapatiax papyri- 



