THE RIVER DARLING. 199 



Mueller. By studyiug the parts of that flower, as exhibited in the 

 sectional drawings of the figure in his " Lithograms," we shall 

 understand the peculiar character of the genus EremopMa, and 

 be assisted in recognising the species wherever we may see them. 

 Of the Euphorbiacece, Mrs. Forde noticed E. chamcesyce and 

 Phyllantlius lacunarius, and one singular Proteaceous shrub Ore- 

 villea rifjfidissima, which is also figured amongst Dr Mueller's 

 lithograms. Trichinium Pressii of the Amarantus family, and 

 MuchlenbecJcia Cunninghami, formerly of the Polygonum genus, do 

 not occur in the neighbourhood of Sydney, but Alternanihera 

 denticulate, Polygonum gracile, P. aviculare, and Rumcxjimlriatus 

 are identical with the same species as found growing almost every- 

 where. (Muchlenbeckia, is the same as Polygonum junceum, which 

 forms what are termed " lignum scrubs," and constitutes a very 

 characteristic feature of the country.) The same remark is ap- 

 plicable to the little Anguillaria dioica, which is common in the 

 spring of the year. Amaryllis Australhsica and Calostemma 

 luteum of the Amaryllis family, must appear very beautiful when 

 growing in their native wilds. The allied plant C. candidum was 

 seen near the Namoi by Mitchell, who says that the whole 

 country was covered with it, and appeared like a flowery desert. 

 The only cryptogamous plants which appear to have been 

 gathered during the expedition, were the " Nardoo" (Marsilea 

 hirsuta), now rendered memorable by the sad fate of Burke and 

 "Wills, and a fern (Nephrodium molle) procured from the Murray 

 Clifts near Blanch Town. A variety of nardoo may be found in 

 marshy ground, not more than twenty or thirty miles from 

 Sydney, but the leaves are smaller and not so hairy. The fern is 

 evidently similar to that growing at the North Shore, although 

 the frond is diminutive and somewhat harsher in its texture, 

 arising from the difference of soil and temperature. 



I have reserved the consideration of the salt bushes and the 

 grasses for the conclusion of my paper, and I have placed them 

 in connection with each other as being equally important to the 

 grazing interests of the colony. In many parts of the interior, 

 where from the nature of the soil or the dry ness of the season, 

 the grasses afford a very inadequate pasture for cattle, the Cheno- 

 podiacccB supply the place of that order, and the species are so 

 numerous that probably no other paitof the world can produce a 



