67 



A Census of the Indigenous Flowering 

 Plants and Vascular Cryptogams of 

 Extra-Tropical South Australia. 



By Professor Ralph Tate, F.L.S., F.G.S., &c. 



[Read October 2, 1S89]. 



Plate V. 



Since the publication of a Census of the Native Plants of 

 South Australia, in the volume of these Transactions for 1880, 

 much activity has been shown in botanical research — greatly ex- 

 tending our knowledge of the species and their distribution, that 

 it is deemed desirable to submit a Revised List. 



To give some idea of the distribution of the constituents of 

 the flora of extra-tropical South Australia, this part of the 

 province is divided into the following regions and districts, as 

 indicated on the accompanying map. 



I. The Eremian Region. 



This is limited by the rainfall-line of about ten inches, which 

 dividing line on the south closely approximates to " Goyder's 

 rainfall-line "— demarking the northern limit of successful wheat- 

 cultivation. It comprises the " salt-bush " country of the pas- 

 toral ist. About one-sixth of the species are extra- Australasian, 

 chiefly of the Indo-Malay Province, whilst a large proportion of 

 the endemic species belong to exotic genera. =* 



District F. This embraces the elevated country to the north 

 of the Lake Eyre Basin, and drained by the tributaries of the 

 River Finke, which have their sources in the McDonnell Range. 

 The average annual rainfall does not exceed ten inches, but it is 

 very irregular in its distribution. 



District C. This is the most characteristic section of the 

 Eremian Region ; it is subject to severe droughts, and the rain- 

 fall does not exceed seven inches. It extends in a northerly 

 direction, certainly as far as Charlotte Waters, is for the most 

 part of low elevation, and comprised of Cretaceous and Tertiary 

 clays and sands, except outlying masses of the Flinders Range 

 which form hilly tracts of limited extent. 



* See Proc. Austr. Assoc, for the Advancement of Science, 1888, p. 312. 



