126 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



fall of the leaf imparts an interest to the tree. But it is 

 the shrubs, rather than the trees, which are the chief beauty 

 of Australian vegetation, so that, whilst " a perpetual flower- 

 garden is formed by these, there is not a single scene of 

 which a painter could make a landscape, without greatly 

 disguising the true character of the trees." 



Though Australia is almost without any kind of native 

 fruit, the soil and climate are so congenial to European 

 fruit-trees, that those which have been introduced seem to 

 thrive as well or better there than in their native land, and 

 the Yine is said to have there found a second home. 



It would be perfectly useless, as well as impossible in so 

 small a space, to enumerate a long list of Australian plants ; 

 but it is interesting to know that amongst numerous un- 

 known ones, it also contains the names of several of which 

 we have species at home, though they form but a very small 

 proportion of the whole. For instance, there are two dif- 

 ferent kinds of Beech (Fagus), a Dock-sorrel (Hwmex), a 

 Plantain (Plantago), a Skull-cap (Scutellaria) , and an Eye- 

 bright (Euphrasia) . In addition to these, we find the 

 familiar names of Speedwell (Veronica), Nightshade (Sola- 

 num), Scorpion-grass (Myosotis), Gentian (Gentiana), Avens 

 (Geum), Flax (Linum), Sundew (Drosera), Crowfoot (Ra- 



