158 THE TICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



scaly ovary. From R. Arfakianum it is separated already by 

 glabrous pedicels, by the lobes of the corolla being shorter than 

 the tube and by shorter stamens. 



When in 1855 the writer of these notes saw (on his passage 

 with Mr. Gregory to what is now called the Kimberley-Country) 

 from near the coast also the bold outlines of Mount Bellenden- 

 Ker, the highest mount of tropical Australia, towering to 5000 

 feet, he was led to think, that the upper region might prove to be 

 the home of species of Rhododendron, Vaccinium, Quercus, 

 Begonia and Impatiens, forms of plants characteristic of cool 

 Malayan sylvan regions ; yet these anticipations became not 

 realised. But Messrs. Sayer and Davidson, while accomplishing 

 quite recently the only ascent hitherto made of Mount Bellenden- 

 Ker, have now demonstrated by their botanic collections, that 

 really a Rhododendron and a plant akin to Vaccinium do exist on 

 the summit of that mountain as an entirely new feature in the 

 flora of this part of the globe. 



The dedication of the only Australian Rhododendron to Lady 

 Loch, is in special recognition of the patronage, given by her 

 Ladyship to Victorian Horticulture and in particular to that very 

 group ot plant, the occurrence of which in the Australian vegeta- 

 tion is now only rendered known, more than 80 years after the 

 discovery of Mt. Bellenden-Ker. 



Agapetes Meiniana. 



'I'all, somewhat climbing, glabrous throughout ; leaves rather 

 large, scattered, on short stalks, coriaceous, from almost lanceolar 

 to roundish-ovate, acuminate, generally rounded at the base, not 

 denticulated, shining on both sides, dark-green above, pale-green 

 beneath and there dotted with minute scattered glands, strongly 

 five- nerved from near the base^ the veins amply reticulated and 

 partly prominent ; pedicels axillary or lateral, three or two together 

 or solitary, with two minute deltoid bracteoles near the base ; calyx 

 campanular-semiovate, separable by articulation from the pedicel, 

 almost truncate, only minutely denticulated ; corolla several times 

 longer than the calyx, dark-red, broadly tubular, terminated by 

 five very short almost deltoid lobes ; stamens ten, enclosed ; 

 filaments glabrous, hardly half as long as the anthers, flat, semi- 

 connate in pairs and with their dilated lov/er portion adherent to 

 the base of the corolla ; anthers erect, free, fixed above their 

 base, fully half as long as the corolla, cylindric-linear, without 

 any appendages, their lower portion subtle-rough and at the blunt 

 base somewhat bent forward, their upper portion paler, smooth, 

 bifid, each division pointed and opening with a longitudinal 

 fissure ; style filiform, glabrous ; stigma minute, undivided ; ovary 

 exceeded by the limb of the calyx, depressed and glabrous at the 

 summit; fruit almost campanulate in outline, rather hird, five- 



