TremandrecB.] FLORA OF TASMANIA- 33 
Hab. Common on sandy flats along the north shores of the bland, and in the islands of Bass' Si rails, 
Guhh.— (Fl. Nov. Dec.) 
Disteib. South-eastern Australia. 
A very distinct and pretty little species, the only one in Tasmania, except 0. whbiU; with bright bhw 
flowers, which sometimes vary to purple and white. — Root woody, sending up many UOending and nvd tkodei 
branches, a span to a foot high, terminated by many-flowered conical racemes. Lean i scatter* d on the stents, 1- 1 
inch long, linear or lanceolate, acuminate, the radical broader and larger. Rao-Mrs 2-t iuelu - 
smaller than in any of the foregoing species, on shorter pedicels. Srjials thrt 
tipped with blue ; three inner membranous, bright blue, rarely white or purpl 
cleft to the middle; inner lobe galeatc, entire ; lateral elongated, acuminate, 
small, i inch long, less conspicuously truncate than in C. Caii/mrmi and ('. rcti'tu, obeordate at the apex, with 
rounded lobes and a central apiculus. Seeds brown, villous, and also bearded with hairs that are more flexnou* 
and cottony, or woolly, than in the preceding species, in which they arc silky. 
Nat. Ord. IX. TREUAX DR ILE. 
A small Natural Order, comprising three genera and twenty-five to thirty species, all confined to the 
Australian Continent and Tasmania, and most of them belonging to the genus 'h-tralhuut. Several abound 
in Tasmania and Eastern extratropical Australia, but the majority arc iound in Soutli-uesicrn Australia; 
one from Endeavour Bayer is the only tropical species known, liny trcpimf sandy heaths or dry places. 
and imitate the Ericea of Europe and the Cape of Good Hone in a very marked manner. 
The affinities of Treman<!re<r are with /'• j ■■ tlair tiowers and n 
and that this is their nearest ally was first indicated by Brown. Planchon and Steetz however consider 
that they are more nearly allied to Bytlneriacea, through Lasiopetalum and its allies, with which they have 
many points of structure in common. 
Gen. 1. TETRATHECA, 8m. 
Sepala 4-5. Petala 4-5, eestivatione induplicata. Stamina 8-10, subsequalia. Anthem cylindrical, 
2-4-loculares, poro terminali dehiscentes. Ovarium 2-(rarius 4-)loculare, loculis 1-3-ovulatis. Captula 
obovata, 2-locularis (rarius 4-locularis), loculicide 2-valvis. Semina 1-2, chalaza caruncula fungosa 
ssepe torta aucta. — Fruticuli graciles ; foliis altemis verticillatisve, estipulatis ; pedimcalis graeiUbu*, 
axillaribus. 
The Tasmanian species of this genus have long been a subject of detailed study by Mr. Gnnn and myself, and 
the results are very unsatisfactory. I examined them first in 1838, and concluded that there were but two perma- 
nently distinct ones, T.ciliata and another more common form, which I divided into four varieties (.Tourn. Bet p. 408). 
When in Tasmania Mr. Gunn and I very carefully studied living and dried specimens, and came to the conclusion that 
four kinds were distinguishable, of which however three could not be characterized by any trenchant characters, though 
they could generally be recognized when growing. Since my return from Tasmania I have ts ice examined the g< uu>. 
taking the Tasmanian species both by themselves and in conjunction with the Australian, and find no reason to alter my 
original opinion, that there are no absolute characters by which to distinguish, permanently, more than two species : but 
thai, in accordance with Mr. Gunn's and my own later opinion, the differences between the prevalent forms of one 
species admitted of its being divided into four varieties. Since the period alluded to, Mr. Gunn has detected a fifth and 
sixth form or species, T.procumhens and T. Gunnii. He remarks that the extreme forms retain their character with con- 
siderable constancy throughout the Island. This is, in short, one of those cases that so frequently occur in systematic 
