BLtTE MOUNTAINS. 177 



being distinguished for its tufted flowers and oblong cordate 

 serrated leaves, which are nearly sessile, and three in a whorl. 

 On the summit of Tomah, there is a species of spinose shrub of 

 the natural family Itubiacece, which is very common. It is 

 described in Don under the name Marquisia Billardieri, and 

 is the same as Canthium quadrifidum, which Dr. F. Mueller 

 informs me is synonymous with Cunningham's Coprosma micro- 

 pliyllwn. The flowers of this plant are small, and the berries red, 

 of an ovate shape, and two-celled. There are several more shrubs 

 of this family, growing on the mountains, which belong to the 

 following genera : Morinda, Psychotria, and Opercularia. All 

 of the last three, indeed, are found in the neighbourhood of 

 Parramatta, but during my late visit, I procured specimens of 

 two which were new to me, but which I am unable at present to 

 refer to their respective genera, as the fruit is unknown. The 

 plants of this family are well defined, being principally distin- 

 guished by their opposite leaves with interpetiolary stipules. 

 Amongst the shrubs on Tomah, 1 remarked also the elder with 

 yellow berries (Sambucus xanthocarpa) , several species of Solarium, 

 and the rutaceous plant Zleria lanceolata, which on the mountains 

 attains a much greater size than it does in this district. I shall 

 not allude particularly to the parasitical orchids of Tomah, and 

 the gigantic climbers so abundant in the woods because few 

 of them flower in the season at which I visited the place. 



Whilst at the Kurrajong, I had an opportunity of visiting 

 Cabbage Tree Flat, and the hills overhanging the Valley of the 

 Grose, and although the season of the year was unfavourable for 

 flowering plants, yet I was not altogether unrewarded. Besides 

 the Cwypha Australia, or the cabbage tree, which has characterised 

 the scenery of the former locality, I was pleased to notice the 

 varying forms of Alsophila, differing from each other in the size of 

 the caudex, the hairs which clothed it, and the simple or serrated 

 nature of the segments. I can scarcely think that such variations 

 are sufficient to constitute more than two distinct species. 

 Amongst the larger trees, the Turpentine and Bloodwood are 

 the most remarkable. Of the latter, two kinds are reckoned by 

 bushmen ; but as far as I could judge from the seed vessel, which 

 in this species of Eucalyptus is large and well defined, they are 

 mere varieties. Near the water, we noticed Lomatia lonyifolia, 



