BOTANY. 



By L. EoDWAY. 



The first thing that strikes the student of botany when 

 he obsei-ves the more conspicuous vegetable growth of Tas- 

 mania is what would naturally be expected, namely, the 

 close relationship between the flora of this and nearest ex- 

 tensive tract of land, th© south-eastern portion of Australia. 

 Another feature of interest is the vast number of European 

 aliens which have established themselves, and, in the more 

 settled centres, threaten to exterminate the native growth, 

 at least of the herbaceous plants. We may estimate that, 

 in Tasmania, with a fairly inclusive definition of the word 

 species, a collector may amass about 1100 flowering plants 

 and ferns which may be considered native, or established 

 Out of this collection no less than 110 have been introduced 

 from Europe, about 3 from America, 2 from Africa, and 4 

 or 5 from the neighbouring States in Australia and New 

 Zealand. A phenomenon of great interest to students of 

 distribution is that, out of our small flora, no less than 68 

 indigenous forms are common also to England. Of en- 

 demic species, we have the resj^ectable total of 142. By 

 far the greater number of the balance, 770, are confined to 

 south-eastern Australia; about 20 per cent, spread to 

 Queensland, New Zealand, and the eastern borders of 

 Western Australia, while a few species extend even to South 

 America and Japan. 



Of the special features of the landscape here, as in Aus- 

 tralia, it is dominated by the sombre Myrtaceae ; but in 

 number of species of this order, Tasmania is poor. Of 

 Eucalypts we /have biit about 13 species, against 250 for 

 Australia, and of the whole order 29, against aboiit 750, 

 though it should be noted that of this large number \A'estern 

 Australia alone claims nearly 500 endemic species. One 

 other order of plants gives a marked feature to the country 

 in parts, the Casuarinece, or native oaks. Their equisetum- 

 lilte foliage gives them the aspect of a survival from an 



