135 



Miscellaneous Contributions 



TO THE 



Natural History of South Australia. 



Edited bj Peof.Tate, Director o£ the Natural Science Corres- 

 pondence Department. 



Botany. 

 Oeobanche cernua, Loefl. — This is a Mediterranean species, 

 extending to the East Indies, and is considered by Baron E. 

 von Mueller to have been introduced to Australia, but Mr. 

 Bentham, El. Austral., vol. iv., p. 533, remarks that its intro- 

 duction is not easily accounted for. Now there are circum- 

 stances touching its mode of occurrence and distribution that 

 seem to me to justify its claims to rank as indigenous. 

 O. cermia is a leafless, somewhat succulent plant, growing 

 parasitically on roots of certain terrestrial herbs and shrubs. 

 It is recorded in the " Elora Australiensis " as occurring near 

 Cudnaka, in this province, and at a few localities in Victoria 

 and West Australia. Since then it has been found by Mr. 

 Tepper at Kilkerran, Yorke's Peninsula, on sandy soil, and 

 has been gathered on the Leisler Hills, in the interior, north 

 from Eowler's Bay, by Mr. Warman. In November, 1880, I 

 collected it in single specimens on the sandhills near Warbuto 

 Point, between Moonta and AYallaroo Bays, and on those of 

 Holdfast Bay. Its disti'ibution cannot be determined in rela- 

 tion to that of its host, which in one instance only has been 

 ascertained, viz., Senecio laufus ; that composite is one of the 

 most widely diffused of extratropical Australian plants, and 

 affects preferentially the light soils such as prevail in the 

 habitats of Orobanclie cermia. In the Mediterranean region 

 O. cernua is found on several species of Artemesia, a genus of 

 Compositse, not represented in the Australian flora. Its 

 sporadic mode of occurrence and disassociation from alien 

 plants, in some instances at least inhabiting virgin country, 

 are circumstances most antagonistic to the view of its modern 

 introduction. Indeed, the question may be raised, is our plant 

 conspecific with O. cernua ? The question is partly answered 

 in the negative by Mr. Bentham, who writes, " Sepals in 

 the Australian specimens two, entire, lanceolate with long 

 points, nearly as long as the bracts." — tl. Tate. 



