120 KEV. W. WOOLLS, Pn.D., F.L.S., ON THK 



the numbers, so far as species have yet been discovered, 

 are carefully estimated, and each plant is referred by 

 systematic arrangement to its proper genns with the date of 

 its discovery and its distribution in the Australian colonies. 



AU plants have their places in the economy of nature and 

 serve the purposes for which they were designed by a bene- 

 ficent Creator, l)ut, in the eyes of men, some species are 

 more ornamental than others, better adapted for cultivation, 

 and whilst " arrayed in robes of lovely hue " indicate '" a 

 Father's care " even to those who do not study the mysteries 

 of organism or the symmetry of proportion. The order 

 Legiuninosas with 1065, the ]\Iyrtacea3 with (563, the Proteaceas 

 with 597, the Compo,sita3 with 380, the Epacridaj with 275, 

 and the OrchidciU with 271 species, afford numerous instances 

 of this kind. Amongst the LeguminosEe, Australia is rich in 

 plants herbaceous, shrubby, or arborescent. CAianthus Dam- 

 pieri, the various species of Sivainsona, Crotalaina, Kennedya^ 

 Oxylohium, Indigofera, Cassia., and JJauJiinia, are now reckoned 

 amongst garden plants, Avhilst the genus Acacia, afibrdiug in 

 itself examples of minute elegance or robust stature, is 

 adapted alike for the shubbery or the plantation. Of the 

 larger species of Leguminosc\}, Castanospermum australe, 

 BarhUia syringifolia, Pithecolohium j^^'tii^i-osum, and Alhizzia 

 canescens are beautiful trees and capable of enduring a con- 

 siderable amount of variation in temperature. The Myrtaceae 

 also are of all sizes from the minute Bo'ckia to the gigantic 

 Eucalypt. Western Australia abounds in elegant species of 

 Fringe ]\lyrtles {Darwinia, Verticordia, CalytJirix, c^r.), small 

 shrubs remarkable for their calyx adhering to the ovary and 

 breaking into fringes or extended into bristles. These are 

 much admired in cultivation. There may also be mentioned 

 as peculiar to the West, species of Rcgelia and Beanfortia, 

 whilst those of Callistemon, Melaleuca, and Zieptospermum may 

 be found in varying proportions in Eastern and Western 

 Australia, enlivening the bush with their white, purple, or 

 crimson flowers. The large genus Eucalyptus has in the 

 Southern and Western Colonies some species distinguished 

 from others by their showy crimson flowers, E.fici folia (j\luel- 

 ler), and E. calopliylla (l>rown) may be reckoned amongst 

 the marvellous beauties of the genus, whilst as ]^aron Mueller 

 observes, E. phwnicca (Mueller) and E. miniata (Cunn.) vie 

 with them in ornamental splendour. The species generally 

 are not very umbrageous, but E. rohusta (Sm.) and a few 

 others are exceptional in this respect, and E. glohxlits (Labill.). 



