140 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



as in the east, here in the west we find 



" October, the maiden of bright yellow tresses." 



Every glade and nook of the forest is illumined with the acacia 

 blooms, from pale canary colour to soft rich chrome. Acacia 

 divergens, with bowing head-stalks arrayed in rows of flowers, is 

 a lovely example of the former colour; while Acacia pulchella is 

 a splendid specimen of the latter, throwing out an abundance of 

 "wee furry balls" before its delicate feathery green foliage has 

 developed. Both these pretty shrubs love to dwell in the 

 damper regions of a Red Gum forest. These Red Gums, for 

 beauty of foliage, are the pride of all the eucalypts. But here 

 let it be explained that they are not the so-called Red Gum 

 /E. Tostrata) of eastern celebrity, but are trees of exceedingly 

 handsome umbrageous figure, with hard rough bark, resembling 

 the better known Ironbark. The vernacular name of the Red 

 -Gum for this part has evidently been suggested by the amount of 

 resin-like kino that bleeds freely from the trunks. The botanical 

 name is, however, Eucalyptus calopliylla. The forest paths are 

 strewed with the large, hard, round calyx lobes. A pedestrian is 

 apt to find himself rolling upon them and skating into a thorny 

 acacia, or coming into violent collision with a neighbouring tree- 

 bole ; but, of course, the sacredness of the forest prevents the 

 use of strong language. Winding amongst the dark rough barrels 

 of the Red Gums we have just time to notice the more striking 

 reliefs of bright-foliaged Hakea, Templetonia (in bloom), 

 Banksias with flowering cones ten or twelve inches long ; 

 elegant Cycads, with palm-like frondage, and drooping Grass-trees 

 {Xanlhorrhcea), both of which lend graceful figures to the sylvan 

 scene. 



Closely allied to the Red Gum is the Scarlet-flowering Gum, 

 which is confined to a narrow strip of the great trackless forest 

 of the southern coast. Our much-honoured patron, Baron von 

 Mueller, who first described the species, graphically states: — 

 ■" Hardly anything more gorgeous can be imagined than the 

 forest of EucalyptxLs ficifolia about the month of February, 

 when brilliant trusses of flowers diffuse a rich red over the dark 

 green foliage of the whole landscape." 



Here we come to the celebrated Jarrah-Jarrah (E. marginata ), 

 a moderately sized tree, in appearance not unlike a Stringybark, 

 and which may be readily distinguished from its congener, the 

 Red Gum, by its smaller foliage and flowers. As its leaves are 

 evergreen, so is its wood almost everlasting. The iron-banded 

 grain seems to partake of the very nature of the soil upon which 

 "it grows, namely, ironstone country, and on the hills, with rock- 

 ■encrusted roots, the finest specimens exist. The smaller trees 



