THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 187 



thick undergrowth, which often consisted of the bunchy Ander- 

 sonia, with the soft white cushion-like flowers of the Ptilotus. 

 These latter plants were of several kinds, one with an elongated 

 greenish fluffy flower, which grew very thick in places, and as the 

 seeds came off, with their downy covering, they carpeted the 

 ground. Several varieties of Pimelea were noticed, with their 

 rounded, white, soft-looking flowers. Grevilleas were plentiful 

 in the ironstone ranges, particularly one with a prickly leaf and 

 purplish flower ; and occasionally one with a handsome dense, 

 elongated yellow flower, and on the hills of granite grew 

 Kunzea serica, with its bright deep crimson flowers, generally 

 well supplied with honey, and often near the same locality the 

 Prickly Hakea. Melaleuca scabra, with its pink flowers, generally 

 grew away from the timbered country ; in the Darling Ranges 

 Leucopogon verticillatus was very plentiful, with its curious bunches 

 of leaves and tiny flowers, and in the same locality, climbing over 

 fallen timber, grew the beautiful Clematis aristata, var. occident- 

 alis. I found the well-known Cape Weed plentiful in many 

 places, and was informed that it was first recorded in Western 

 Australia in 1832. It is often erroneously stated that it was intro- 

 duced by the late Baron von Mueller, but the above fact com 

 pletely disproves it. The pretty little flower Petrophila linearis 

 was very noticeable in the sand ridges, with its long down-covered 

 stamens of a delicate pink colour ; its elongated, thin leaves are 

 very hard and wiry, and each plant has only one flower-head. 



Grass Trees are exceedingly plentiful in all the southern coastal 

 districts, and are apparently of three kinds. One, Xanthorrhoea 

 gracilis, has several flower-stalks 'projecting from the crown, 

 and with a single trunk ; another, X. preissii, also has a single 

 trunk, but with only one long flower-stalk, often 6 feet long, and 

 covered with small white flowers ; and another very similar one 

 has several branches, each of which bears a single flower-stalk. 

 These latter variety only seem to grow in swampy land, and farmers 

 say that where they are found the soil is good. They are full of 

 resinous gum, and are consequently much used for lighting fires. 



The Zamia Palms, Macrozamia Jraserii, are also very plentiful 

 on the sandy ridges, and form a picturesque feature in the 

 landscape, and you notice both the male and female plant. The 

 male generally bears three flower-cones, but as the stalks that bear 

 them are not very strong the cones fall over and lie on the 

 ground ; they are of a dark-purplish colour. The female plant 

 also bears cones, generally one,'^ but occasionally two or three ; 

 they stand upright, and are large and full of seeds about the size 

 of a walnut ; the cone is of a bright green colour. I was informed 

 that cattle in dry seasons often eat these palms, but they are 

 poisonous, especially the nuts and the crown, and the effect on 

 the stock seems to be that they lose power over their hind- 



