206 A CONTBIBUTION TO, ETC. 



of Parramatta, Synoum glandulosum occurs sparingly, but it is an 

 ornamental tree, and worthy of cultivation. It has flowers in dense 

 panicles, and pinnate leaves, resembling in some respects the 

 " Red Cedar" of the colonists, a tree, indeed, to which it is 

 nearly allied. Clerodendrum tomentosum is remarkable as being 

 a small tree of the Verbena family, and long after flowering, the 

 seed vessels with the enlarged and dark coloured calyxes, are 

 conspicuous amongst the foliage. Duboisia myoporoides, or as some 

 call it " the Cork tree," is placed by Brown in the Solanum 

 family, and probably possesses deleterious properties. I have 

 been informed by Miss Atkinson that the aboriginal natives used 

 to prepare some stupifying liquid from it, and also that branches 

 of the tree, when hung up in a close room, have had the effect of 

 producing giddiness and vomiting in delicate persons. D. myo- 

 poroides grows on the Toongabbie Creek, but never attains any 

 size. Exocarpus cupressiformis, or "the Native Cherry," is a 

 very graceful tree, and Maodendrum australe, with its bright red 

 drupes and large oval-shaped leaves, is not unworthy of attention ; 

 but as regards their flowers, they are far inferior to some of the 

 bright yellow and showy racemes of our Wattles or Acacias, 

 which in the spring of the year form a lively contrast with the 

 prevailing white flowers of the district. The species of Acacia 

 deemed most ornamental in these parts are, A. decurrens, A. pu- 

 bescens, A. discolor, and the varieties (?) A. floribunda, and A. 

 intertexta, now united under A. longifolia, (Flora Australiensis, 

 vol. 2, p. 397). Stenocarpus salignus is a proteaceous tree some- 

 times called " Beef Wood." This as it now appears growing 

 close to our creeks, is little more than a shrub with dark glossy 

 leaves, and as such it was described by Brown, but since the days 

 of that illustrious botanist, S, salignus has been found as a splen- 

 did forest tree, 80 feet in height, the wood of which is exceedingly 

 beautiful, and promises to be useful for veneers in cabinet work. 

 When this tree was pointed out to me on the Mittagong Eange, 

 I could scarcely believe it to be identical with the shrub on the 

 Parramatta Creeks, yet such I believe is the case. There are two 

 small trees of the Epacris family that remain to be noticed, viz : 

 Monotoca albens or the "Native Beech," and Troclwcarpa laurina 

 or the "Brush Cherry." The first of these is abundant near the 

 coast, and extends some distance on the banks of the Parramatta 



