204 A CONTRIBUTION TO, ETC. 



a small tree, with loose racemes of white fringed flowers, which 

 are succeeded by oval berries of an acid flavour. Perhaps the 

 Cunoniad family affords the district more ornamental trees than 

 any other, and at the season of Christmas, they are appropriated 

 in the same manner here as the Holly and Mistletoe in England. 

 That which is usually called " the Christmas bush" is Ceratopetalum 

 giuinmiferum^ a graceful tree with leaves in threes, and panicles of 

 small white flowers, which after a time disappear and leave 

 behind them the persistent red calyxes. "When in this state, 

 which is usually from December to February, the branches are 

 sought after to decorate our Churches and houses during the 

 period of the Christmas festivities. ' In Dr. Bennett's " Gatherings 

 of a Naturalist," page 324, there is an elegant drawing of this 

 tree from the pencil of Miss H. Scott (now Mrs. E. Porde), which 

 gives a very good idea of the flowers as they appear about Christ- 

 mas. The allied species C. apetalum and ScMzomeria ovata, are 

 also ornamental, and differ principally in the fruit, and the 

 articulation of the leaves on the petiole. The fruit of 8. ovata is 

 a white *fleshy drupe about the size of a marble, and of an acid 

 flavour. Callicoma serratafolia occurs frequently on our creeks, 

 and is remarkable as being a solitary species of a genus endemic 

 in Australia. "When in flower it has rather a showy appearance, 

 and the leathery leaves, shining above and white with tomentum 

 underneath, coarsely serrated and marked with prominent parallel 

 veins, render it an interesting object. I may also mention, as 

 being connected with the same family of trees, Abrophyllum 

 ornans, which I found at the Fox Ground, near Lane Cove, a 

 beautiful tree with leaves sometimes nine inches long. It was 

 previously supposed that this species (the only one too of the 

 genus) did not occur nearer than the Blue Mountains. ApJiano- 

 petalwm resinosum, is a tall climbing shrub, with panicles of 

 petal-less flowers, and shining leaves. It is worthy of cultivation, 

 and can be procured near Parramatta.* The same remark 

 applies to two other beautiful trees of the same order, Quintinia 

 Sieberi on the Blue Mountains, and Eucrypliia Moorei, near 



* It is only within the last few weeks, that I have found ApJianopetalwm 

 growing in the creek, near Brush Farm. In the same place, I gathered some 

 ripe fruit of Eupomatia laurina, the flavour of which resembled that of 

 Qherimoyer, though far inferior to it. 



