52 



than a mile away had suffered more or less every season. 

 What makes the situation of this tree most remarkable is that 

 so far as is known, it has never been met with outside the 

 tropics, except in this solitary instance. How came it here? 

 An Araliaceous tree, AsfrotricJie pteroccnya, Benth., is another 

 which is found occasionally in a site far distant from its 

 natural habitat, I found it on Mitchell's Pinches, in the 

 Leichhardt district, which must be upwards of 300 miles south 

 of Fitzroy Island, the only habitat given for it in the Flora 

 Australiensis, and I may remark that so peculiar a tree, or 

 rather tall shrub, no collector would be likely to pass, 

 unnoticed. Its beautiful leaves and rich, dark purple panicle 

 would be sure to attract attention. 



I have met a remarkably pretty fern, Scliizcea Forsteri^ 

 Sprengel, in two very distant places: — First, in the dense 

 scrubs of Maroochie, about 80 miles from Brisbane, in a 

 northerly direction ; and also in the dense tropical scrubs 

 inland, from Trinity Bay. I believe I was the first to notice 

 this Fern in Australia, which is somewhat strange, consider- 

 ing its delicate beauty. Some European writers on ferns, 

 have confused it with Swarty's S. dicltotoma, but besides the 

 difference of habits in the two species, this latter is much more 

 robust, and as far as Australia is concerned, i§ found only on 

 the sandy land near the coast. It is wanting also in the 

 pretty radiating fructification of S. Forsteri. "While collecting. 

 a short time back at Tarampa, a station west of Brisbane, 

 and about 60 miles from the coast, on an isolated hill, with 

 an elevation of say 80 feet, the greater part of which was- 

 composed of loose rock, among which I could not find a 

 particle of soil, I noticed amidst the scrub which covered the 

 hill, many shore plants, and in particular Sarcostemma aiistraJey 

 Bth., which was growing luxuriantly, binding the shrubs 

 together with its succulent, leafless stems. But on searching 

 the scrub near, I failed to find either this or any of the other 

 maritime shrubs. There is a curious fact respecting the flora 

 about Maroochie, a rich locality before mentioned, situated in 

 the great dividing range, and where I had a week's collecting, 

 some few years back. Though far north, this place possesses 

 a greater number of those plants, supposed only to belong to 

 the cooler parts of Australia than any other part of 

 Queensland I have seen. Here is one of the widely divided, 

 habitats of Si/injylocos Thwaitesii, and as far as known the only 

 Queensland habitat of Quintinia Verdonii, F. Muell., a New 

 South Wales tree. In a swamp I noticed also a large 

 amount of broom-like shrub, Viminaria denudata, Sim., another 

 southern shrub ; in this swamp too, was a large amount of the- 

 beautiful, and most useful moss Sj)]iagniim obtusi/olium, Ehr.^ 



