188 A CONTBIBTJTION TO, ETC. 



which grows principally on Melaleuca, L. pendulus, on diiferent 

 species of Eucalyptus, and L. congener, which is found on "Banksia, 

 Acacia, Eucalyptus, &c. In addition to these, I may mention L. 

 exocarpus, which has been collected on the Murrumbidgee, and 

 Nuytsia ligustrina (not parasitical) which has been noticed on 

 the road to Tomah. The Viscum is said to be " a parasite on a 

 parasite" that is to say, it has been found on Loranihus. When 

 this was first pointed out to me, I was under an impression that 

 this circumstance had not been previously noticed, but I find 

 that Dr. P. Mueller, with his usual sagacity, has alluded to it in 

 No. 14, of the second volume of his Pragmenta ! Viscum 

 incanum, he says, is found in the branches of Eucalyptus, Ango- 

 pliora, and other trees, likewise everywhere parasitical on their 

 Lorantlii, and extending from the vicinity of Twofold Bay to the 

 River Burnett. Of the Yiniferae, there are three species, two of 

 which (Vitis clematidea, and V. Baudiana) grow near Parra- 

 rnatta. Of the third, I did not see either flowers or fruits, but 

 from the general character of the plant, its climbing habit, tri- 

 foliate leaves and reported fruit, I think it must be referred to 

 Vitis nitens. These plants are generally called Kangaroo vines, 

 or native grapes ; and I see that Dr. Mueller, in some of his late 

 works, unites with them the genus Vitis. One of the best 

 species in this part of the colony is V. Jiypoglauca, the grape of 

 which has a pleasant acid flavour, and makes good jam. This is 

 described and figured in Dr. Mueller's work on the indigenous 

 plants of Victoria. The pepper family is represented by a species 

 of Peperomia which grows about the roots of trees to the height 

 of two feet and more. The leaves are of an ovate shape, three 

 nerved, ternate, and hairy. Some little time since, my friend 

 Miss Atkinson, found P. reflexa, at the Kurrajong, but that 

 species is much smaller, perfectly glabrous, and the leaves are in 

 a whirl of four. The genus Peperomia has been elaborately de- 

 scribed in the celebrated work " Systema Piperacearum," by 

 Miquel, and it consists of all those plants with a simple stigma, 

 and two stamens, which were formerly included in the genus 

 Piper. Pour species of the pepper family are indigenous at Nor- 

 folk Island, and Dr. F. Mueller mentions two in his botanical 

 report of the North Australian expedition. The peppers, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Lindley, are exclusively confined to the hottest parts 



