xxviii FLORA OF TASMANIA. [Remarks on the 
calyptra of Eucalyptus, stigma of Goodeniacea, staminal column of Stylidium, irritable labellum of 
various Orchidece, flowers sunk in the wood of some Leptospermea, pericarp of Casuariua, receptacle 
and inner staminodia of Eupomatia, stomata of Proteacea. 
On the other hand, if, disregarding the peculiarities of the Flora, I compare its elements with 
those of the Floras of similarly situated large areas of land, or with that of the whole globe, I find 
that there is so great an agreement between these, that it is impossible to regard Australian vegetation 
in any other light than as forming a peculiar, but not an aberrant or anomalous, botanical province 
of the existing Vegetable Kingdom. I find : — 
That the relative proportions of the great classes of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons, of genera 
to orders, and of species to genera, are the same as those which prevail in other Floras of equal 
That the subclasses distinguished by a greater or less complexity of the floral envelopes, or their 
absence, as Thalamiflora, Calyciflora, Corolliflora, etc., are also in the same relative proportions as 
prevail in other Floras. 
That the proportion of Gymnospermous plants to other Dicotyledons is not increased. 
That all the Australian Natural Orders, with only two small exceptions, are also found in other 
countries ; that most of those most widely diffused in Australia are such as are also the most widely 
distributed over the globe ; and that Australia wants no known Order of general distribution. 
That the only two absolutely peculiar Natural Orders contain together only three genera, and 
very few species ; they are, further, comparatively local in Australia, and are rather aberrant forms 
of existing natural families than well-marked isolated groups : Brunoniacece being intermediate be- 
tween Goodeniacea and Composites, and Tremandrece between Polygale® and Buettneriacea. 
That the large Natural Orders and Genera, which, though not absolutely restricted to Australia, 
are there very abundant in species and rare elsewhere, and for which I shall hence adopt the term 
Australian, stand in very close relationship to groups of plants which are widely spread over the 
globe (as Epacridece to Ericea, Goodeniacea to Campanulacea, Stylidea to Lobeliacea, Casitarina to 
Myricai) . 
That these Australian Orders are exceedingly unequally distributed in Australia ; that there is 
a greater specific difference between two quarters of Australia (south-eastern and south-western) 
than between Australia and the rest of the globe; and that the most marked characteristics of the 
Flora are concentrated at that point which is geographically most remote from any other region 
of the globe. 
That most of those Australian Orders and genera which are found in other countries around 
Australia, have their maximum development in Australia at points approximating in geographical 
position towards those neighbouring countries. Thus the peculiarly Indian features of the Flora 
are most developed in north-western Australia, the Polynesian and Malayan in north-eastern 
the^ew Zealand and South American in south-eastern, and the South African in south-western 
Australia. 
That of the nine largest Natural Orders, which together include a moiety of the Australian species 
of flowering plants, no fewer than six belong to the nine largest Natural Orders of the whole world, 
and five belong to the largest in India also. 
That in Australia itself, in advancing from the tropics to the coldest latitudes, or from the driest 
to the most humid districts, or from the interior to the seashore, or in ascending the mountains the 
changes in vegetation are in every aspect analogous to what occur in other parts of the globe. 
