THE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE. 125 



red berries of the Yew-tree ; only instead of the black seed 

 lying nearly concealed within the berry, it projects " out of 

 the fruit/' to which it fits in closely, like a stopper in the 

 mouth of a bottle. This funereal-looking tree, the proper 

 name of which is Exocarpus> is in fact nearly allied to the 

 Yew, and the character of the foliage is extremely similar. 



Amongst the most remarkable trees of Australia are the 

 Kingia, one of the Hush family (Juncacea), and the Xan- 

 tJwrrhaa, which belongs to the family of Lilies, both of which 

 go commonly by the name of " Grass-trees." (Plate VII.) 

 There are points of similarity between the two trees, only 

 to be appreciated by scientific botanists, which are said to 

 form a connecting link between Bushes and Lilies. The 

 Xanthorrhcea has been poetically called "the sceptre of 

 Flora" (rather an uncouth-looking one, it must be owned), 

 from the manner in which the long cylindrical spikes of 

 densely compacted flowers, resembling Bullrushes, rise out 

 of the tufts of long wiry foliage which surmount the clumsy 

 stem, the stem and the foliage together looking some- 

 thing like a caricature of a Palm-tree. 



Most of the Australian trees are evergreen. Amongst 

 the few deciduous ones, the White Cedar (Melia Azedarach) 

 may be mentioned as an exception ; the very rarity of the 



