TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 589 
2. A Botanical Survey of North-Hast New South Wales. 
By Freperick Turner, F’.L.S., F.R.H.S. 
North-East New South Wales, considered from a botanical point of view, 
is one of the most fertile and interesting sections of country on the Australian 
continent. Reference is made to its area, configuration, soil, climate, and rain- 
fall. Its flora, which is described as semi-tropical, being very dense and luxuri- 
ant in places, has occupied the author’s attention since early in the ’eighties. A 
greater number of indigenous species of plants are growing there than on any 
other area of similar size in New South Wales. Much of the arboreal vegetation 
is festooned with immense and in many instances beautiful flowering climbing 
plants, and on the trunks and larger branches of some trees epiphytal orchids 
and ferns are growing plentifully, while the ground is literally carpeted with 
many species of terrestrial ferns. On one gigantic fig tree, Ficus macrophylla, 
Desf., more than two hundred epiphytal orchids and ferns have been observed. 
In different parts of this area there are magnificent forests of various species 
of trees, consisting of both hard and soft woods. The more important of 
the former are the species of Hucalyptus, and of the latter Cedrela Toona, 
Roxb. Other trees produce valuable, and in some instances highly  orna- 
mental, timber, suitable for many industrial purposes. The rarest and most 
remarkable tree of New South Wales is Strychnos psilosperma, F.v.M., of 
which botanical specimens are exhibited. According to Dr. James M. Petrie, 
F.1.C., it yields strychnine, brucine, and the newly discovered Australian 
alkaloid strychnicine. Reference is made to the medicinal value of Dudoisia 
myoporoides, R.Br., and a number of other plants. Mention is made of the 
edible fruit and nut-bearing trees which once furnished food for the aborigines, 
the trees and shrubs with strongly scented bark and leaves, and also those which 
yielded dyes and fibres for the natives. The most conspicuous flowering tree is 
Sterculia acerifolia, A. Cunn. In the month of December it usually produces 
numerous panicles of rich red flowers, which have a charming and brilliant effect. 
Leguminosee are widely distributed and are a conspicuous feature, consisting of 
trees, shrubs, and climbers, producing a profusion of various coloured flowers, 
mostly strikingly beautiful. Several species of Hibiscus produce very large and 
showy flowers, the most remarkable being H. splendens, Fraser. The palms, 
although they only number a few species, sometimes grow into miniature forests 
producing a decidedly tropical effect. Fern trees grow abundantly in many 
places, and some attain a considerable height. In the open country the forage 
plants and grasses form a large percentage of the vegetation, and are of great 
economic value. There are heaths of considerable extent which are covered with 
dwarf shrubs and herbaceous plants which produce a singularly beautiful effect 
when in bloom. 
This is the first botanical survey of the North-Hast, and has added to the 
indigenous plants not previously recorded for New South Wales, twelve genera, 
sixty-nine species, and many new varieties. The number of Phanerogams and 
vascular Cryptogams in the North-East is 743 genera and 1,797 species. 
3. Extra-tropical Forestry in Portugal. By D. E. Hurcurns. 
Extra-tropical forestry in Southern Spain and Portugal has a peculiar interest 
for southern extra-tropical Australia, because the climate, the trees, and the 
forestry of both countries are (or will be) the same. Australia is now paying out 
about 3,000,0007. yearly for imported soft wood; and to produce this at home in 
the future (judging from the experiences of South Africa) Australia will have 
mainly to copy the forestry of Southern Europe. The writer, after a life-time 
in South African forestry, has recently completed a forest tour in Southern 
Spain and Portugal. The chief points of interest for Englishmen are these :— 
The most important forest-tree, and the only abundant forest species in 
Portugal, is the Cluster Pine (Pinus Pinaster), the same tree which (under the 
name of the Maritime Pine) has transformed the dreary malaria-stricken 
‘Landes’ of Southern France. It is the Cluster Pine also which, on its own 
merits, has become the most abundant coniferous tree in South Africa. The 
