124 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



groups in the open landscape ; as, when several grow toge- 

 ther, their formal outline is not preserved." "When growing 

 in groups they are valuable from the dense shade they af- 

 ford ; the leaves however are rather small, and are generally 

 of a dull rusty olive-green. Shade from the trees is not 

 always to be found in Australia, as the leaves, instead of 

 growing horizontally as on our English trees, often hang 

 perpendicularly like bundles of rags going by the rule 

 of contrary, as most things there are said to do.* These 

 "honeysuckles without odour" are destitute of scent, ex- 

 cept at the time when they shed their pollen, when a very 

 faint one may be perceived. 



But the trees we feel most curious to see are the "cherries 

 with the stones outside " there is something so very odd in 

 the idea ! That they ever came to be called so is more odd 

 still, for they really do not look much like cherries, nor 

 have they the slightest connection with them. The fruit, 

 both in size and appearance, is very much like the pulpy 



* The right explanation of this is, that by one of those metamorphoses 

 which sometimes occur in the parts of plants, the true leaves remain un- 

 developed, whilst the leafstalks expand and assume a leaf-like appearance ; 

 with this difference, that they hang perpendicularly instead of growing hori- 

 zontally as true leaves do. It is not uncommon to see leaves without leaf- 

 stalks, but in this instance we have leafstalks without leaves. 



