29 



sea air (for which there are good reasons). Under this view 

 the scantiness and monotony of the primary regions will fully 

 reveal itself, as many of their peculiar forms of vegetation are 

 very local, and frequently of solitary occurrence. 



The aspect of the plant world of Yorke's Peninsula in the 

 whole much resembles that of portions of the Murray Scrub 

 between Callington and Swanport, and bears a decided desert 

 character between Ardrossan, Yorke Valley, and Kalkabury, 

 and again some portions of Kilkerran, brought about by the 

 total absence of natural springs and flowing water, and the 

 permeability of the soil. The coast-plain and other open 

 patches are thickly studded with large tufts of grass-like 

 Cyperacece and Xerotidew. The most common is Cladium 

 lanigerum, with cylindrical, needle-like, pungent leaves, asso- 

 oiated with four species of Xerotes and one of Lepidosperma 

 (undetermined) , the latter distinguished from the preceding by 

 its flat, leaf-like flower-stalk. The most common of the 

 Xerotids is X. effusa. All these are almost useless as food for 

 domestic animals, and lend to the landscape a weird, forbid- 

 ding aspect. Among their tufts other grasses find a precarious 

 domicile, of which Stipa scabra, S. crinita, Dantlionia penicillata, 

 Poa caespitosa, and Agropyrum scabrum are the most conspi- 

 cuous, together with the introduced Festuca hromoides, Koeleria 

 plileoides, and Hordeum inurinum. Antliistiria ciliata, the 

 "kangaroo grass," is in the whole very scarce. "Wherever a 

 fire sweeps away the scrub, Stipa semibarbata and S. aristighimis 

 appear in profusion, often growing a stalk three to five feet 

 high, producing a singular effect at certain seasons by their 

 large waving seed-plumes. During the season of spring these 

 grasslands are enlivened by the thousands of yellow and white 

 flowers of many Composites, G-oodenoviea?, and Orchids, the 

 blue of Wahlenbergia gracilis, the blue or pink of Dampiera 

 rosmarinifolia, and many others ; few only, among which is- 

 StacMousia linarifolia, being at all remarkable for any pleasant 

 scent. Of shrubs, dotting the open country near Ardrossan, 

 &c, the most remarkable are the low, dense Styplielia patula , 

 with dark green, glabrous, myrtle-like leaves and red edible 

 berries ; Hakea rugosa and the unavoidable JBursaria spinosa, 

 with its large white clusters of snow-white flowers, but very 

 spiny branches. 



GreviUea Huegeli and a variety of Eremopliila Bromiii, both 

 with fine red flowers, occasionally find their way from the hills 

 to the plain, increasing the variety agreeably in company with 

 the much smaller JPimeleas, dressed in a profusion of white or 

 yellow. Larger shrubs are Acacia Osswaldi, with rigid dense 

 foliage, semi-arborescent, and Geijera parvi/fora, many stemmed, 

 with dense light green foliage, steeped from .September to- 



