100 A RAMBLE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 



Desert, the Colonial Government has sunk an artesian 

 well which has never ceased to yield a constant stream of 

 perfectly pure water ; and a great part of the district is a 

 desert no longer. 



On the lower slopes of the mountains, a little to the 

 eastward of Adelaide, and on many of the low hills, grows 

 that grand flower called by the natives the warryta, and 

 sometimes by the colonists the Australian tulip. This, I 

 believe, is the most westerly range of the shrub which 

 bears it. It is not very abundant, and much mischief is 

 done by persons who cut the flowers to sell in the city, 

 where there is a brisk demand for them. 



The plant, which is in danger of extermination in this 

 district, is a low black trunk, with a great crest of large, 

 coarse, grass-like leaves, something resembling the grass- 

 tree in general form. From the tuft of leaves there springs 

 a tall stem, at the top of which grows a huge cluster of 

 vivid scarlet flowers. This is the warryta, and wherever 

 it grows it is one of the most striking objects in the 

 landscape — so striking and beautiful that, unfortunately, it 

 is hunted for far and near, no Australian floral decoration 

 being considered perfect without it. 



There is also a very fine species of melaleucus growing 

 in the Adelaide neighbourhood, which has beautiful 

 scarlet blossoms ; and I noticed that a large proportion of 

 the wild flowers of this part of the country are of the same 

 bright hue. 



