THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE. 131 



roasted and eaten by the natives. Leafless 

 acacias, of which there are ninety- three species, 

 and the Epacris, a beautiful tribe resembling 

 the heaths, and containing three hundred and 

 twenty species, with scarlet, rose, and white 

 blossoms, form conspicuous features in the 

 vegetation. The Epacridce are almost confined 

 to Australia and Polynesia. Only a single 

 species of heath is found throughout Australia. 

 Some species of fig which grow here are very 

 remarkable. It sometimes happens, that when 

 the seeds of these fig trees are deposited by 

 birds in the cavities of other trees, as the 

 eucalyptus, etc., at elevations of perhaps fifty 

 feet, or more, they vegetate, and send down 

 roots to the ground. These adhere to the 

 tree in their course, and branching, unite with 

 other roots of a similar kind. These thicken, 

 spread, and again interlace, till at length the 

 foster tree is completely encased, and its top 

 is only visible, rising from among the branches 

 of the fig, at the height of seventy or eighty 

 feet. 



In middle Australia, various parasitic orcln- 

 deacece adorn the branches of the forest trees, 

 and numerous climbing plants, with stems 

 varying from the thickness of a pack-thread to 

 that of a man's body, ascend into their tops, 

 and send down their branches in graceful fes- 

 toons. Two species of passion flower, one of 

 jasmine, three of cissus, (a vine-like plant, with 

 grapes the size of sloes,) various ipomaeas, with 

 lovely large flowers of pink, blue, white, and 



