120 A CONTKIBTJTIOX TO, ETC. 



the two species together in an unmistakeable manner, so that 

 whilst studying the peculiarities of a plant found on Mount 

 William, the mind will associate them with those of another 

 species in the immediate neighbourhood of our metropolis. I 

 might, indeed, go through the species of all the eighteen genera, 

 and show how profitably they could be studied with a view of be- 

 coming acquainted with our own flora of Australia in general; 

 but as I think this must be abundantly evident to the careful ob- 

 server, I shall proceed to notice particularly the plants which are 

 common to both colonies. Of these it may be interesting to re- 

 mark nine species were described many years ago, by the cele- 

 brated Robert Brown, viz., Boerhavia mutablis, Cassia platypoda, 

 Cassytha ylabella, Lobelia purpurescens, Lyonsia straminea, Myrsine 

 variabilis, Notelcea ligustrina, Persoonia Caleyi, and Taxantliema 

 Australis. The first of these plants is placed by Brown 

 amongst the tropical ones, but since the publication of the Pro- 

 dromus, JSoerhavia has been found not only in Victoria, but in 

 many parts of the interior of this colony. Dr. Mueller's figure 

 is so well executed that, in comparing it with a specimen I lately 

 received from the neighbourhood of Mudgee, it was impossible to 

 mistake the species. Cassia platypoda is described in the Elora 

 Australiensis (vol. 2, p. 287), under the name of G. eremopliila. 

 It is a species found in Eastern, Western, and Southern Australia. 

 Cassytlia is a parasitical plant, resembling the dodder in ap- 

 pearance, and C glabella and other allied species are so common 

 in Eastern Australia, that the lithogram will easily be recognised. 

 The uses of this plant are not known, but the fruit (which is a nut 

 coated by the permanent calyx) is sometimes eaten by our colonial 

 youths. Lobelia purpurascens is a pretty little flower common in 

 our creeks, but whilst interesting in a scientific point of view, it 

 is not likely to find favour amongst gardeners. Lyonsia straminea 

 is a climbing plant of the Apocynacea?, more remarkable for its 

 cornose seeds than for the beauty of its flowers. I have lately 

 noticed a Lyonsia on General Macarthur's estate, which has nearly 

 reached to the top of a swamp oak. Myrsine variabilis is a shrub 

 of the ^ame family as the Ardisia, and it is well named variable, 

 for hot only the leaves, but the general character of the plant is 

 muc-h influenced by the locality in which it grows. In comparing 

 some of the diminutive shrubs of this species growing near the salt 



