PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTUKB OP THE AUSTRALIAN PLORA. 117 



-whilst the seeds and plants collected by Banks ?nd Solander 

 during Cook's voyage, were soon cultivated at Kew and 

 elsewhere in Europe. In looidng over a list of Australian 

 plants as known in the last centuiy, that is, twelve years 

 .after the foundation of the colony of New South Wales, it will 

 be seen that the knowledge of the Flora was very limited. 

 Taking the four orders Leguminosse, Myrtaceas, Proteaceee, 

 and Epacrideas as illustrative of the fact, it will be found 

 that of the hrst 39, of the second 44, of the third 30, and of 

 the fourth 8 species only were then known in Europe. ]Many 

 of these were collected and forwarded under circumstances 

 of difficulty, for owing to the want of provisions in the early 

 days of the colony, the dangers arising from penetrating into 

 .an unknown country, and the deficiency of proper material 

 for drying and preserving specimens, little idea can be formed 

 of the labours encountered by the earliest naturalists in 

 Australia. Moreover, the voyage to Europe in those days 

 occupied many months, numbers of plants perishing in trans- 

 mission, while seeds damaged by salt water or long keeping 

 were of course useless for the purposes of cultivation. 



It may be interesting, as showing the limited knowledge 

 of Australian plants at the period indicated, to refer particu- 

 larly to the species described in the work of Willdexow 

 published between the years 1797 and 1810. Willdenow was 

 the great systematic botanist of his day, the follower of the 

 renowned Liiinieus, and the editor of his Sjyecies Plan- 

 tarum. His work, therefore, is one of authority, and it may 

 safely be quoted as showing how small an amount of know- 

 ledge in reference to Australian plants was possessed by 

 continental botanists before the publication of Brown's 

 Prodromus. The species are arranged, as follows, according 

 to the Linnean system. 



Pimelea linifolia (Sm.) 

 Protea pidchella (Schrad.) 

 Banksia serrata (Linn.) 

 ,, grandis (Willd.) 

 „ integrifolvx (Linn.) 

 „ pyrifonnis (Gaertn.) 

 ,, dentata (Linn.) 

 „ spinidosa (Sm.) 

 ,, ericifolia (Linn.) 

 „ gibbosa (Sm.) 

 Emhothrium speciosmhmim (Sm.) 

 ,, huxifolium (Sm.) 



„ sericeum (Sm.)] 



„ silalfolium (Sm.) 



Opercidaria umhellata (Gaertn.) 

 S'fyrengelia incarnata (Sm.) 

 Epacris grandiflora (Willd.) 

 Styphelia tuhijiora (Sm.) 

 „ ericoides (Sm.) 

 ,, strigosa (Sm.) 

 ,, scoparia (Sm.) 

 „ daphnoides (Sm.) 

 „ lanceolata (Sm.) 

 „ elliptica (Sm.) 



Ooodenia ovata (Sm.) 

 „ albida (Sm.) 

 ,, Icevigata (Curt.) 

 ,, hellidifolioy Sm 



