86 ~ BOTANY. 



earlier age. The order is small, and, except C. equisetifolia^ 

 which spreads from Polynesia to Asia and Africa, is con- 

 fined to Australia. 



That ancient and keenly-interesting order Protea.cece is 

 very poorly represented in Tasmania. We possess but 24 

 species, and out of these 11 are endemic. Of the large 

 genus Grevillea, of which Australia can boast some 173 

 forms, Tasmania can only lay claim to one, G. australis, and, 

 in Hakea, to 7 out of 115; Gonosperniwn, 1 out of 36; Per- 

 sonia, 2 of 70;, Banksia, 2 of 50. Many large genera are 

 quite unrepresented. On the other hand, of the ancient 

 genus Orites, whose ancestors may be still traced in the Cre- 

 taceus period, Tasmania absorbs as her exclusive possession 

 4 out of the 6 existing in the present day. Also, the mono- 

 typic genera, BeUendena, Agastachys, and Genarrhenes, are 

 endemic. The Leguminosce and Go7npositce here, as else- 

 where, form a preponderance of wild flora. Among the 

 former, the Acacias constitute a graceful and beautiful por- 

 tion of the shrubland so novel to the European visitor, and 

 none of them possess this grace and beauty more than our 

 endemic prickly mimosa, the drooping A . riceana. There 

 is nothing about the Gompositce that calls for exceptional 

 notice, except the feature common to the Southern Hemi- 

 sphere, the numerous forms of everlastings. The asters 

 are fairly numerous, but are mostly shrubs (Olearias) . The 

 wild daisies (Br achy comes) are mostly blue or maxive. and 

 the Senecios occasionally are arborescent. AurotanelJa 

 forsterioides, which occurs only on mountain-tops, fonns 

 dense pulvinate masses, and has a superficial resemblance to 

 moss. Pterygopappus laivrencii has a somevv^hat similar 

 habit. Dnnatia 7iovce-zelandtce, among the Stylideoe, and 

 DracopliyUum minimuni amongst, the Epacridece, have also 

 the same peculiar appearance. An order of exceptional 

 interest in Tasmanian botany is the Epacridece. Of the 290 

 Australian forms. West Australia claims about 145 as en- 

 demic; of the remainder, 60 appear in Tasmania, of which 

 30 are recorded as endemic. The genus Epacris, with nomi- 

 nally 11 species, is ill-defined, and requires revision. The 

 beautiful climbing Epacris, Prionotes cerinthoides, with its 

 long crimson bells, is of more than passing interest in that 

 its partially-bilocular anthers connect this order with the 

 more northern Ericacece. The genus Richea, with simple 

 leaves with linear venation and broad sheathing bases, is, 

 except one species, R. gunnii, found sparely in the highlands 

 in Victoria, exclusively Tasmanian. It, with the allied 

 genera, Dracophylhim, Andersonia, and Sprengelia, form a 

 decidedly primitive type of foliage for so highly-organised 



