389 



West of the Flinders Range is an even larger district extending westwards 

 to the Western Australian boundary, and occupied to a great extent by saltbush 

 or bluebush. Both these areas are mapped as "Savannah," the feature of which 

 is said to be that "much grass" exists. It is true that after suitable rainfalls 

 the area is heavily grassed, but an overwhelming proportion of the grasses are 

 therophytes, and as such give no permanent character to the flora. 



The first sketch of the vegetation of South Australia was given by Schom- 

 burgk in 1876.*^^^ He refers to a "grass land" region in which are "gravelly and 

 waterless flats" whose surface is "often saline . . . supporting only a scanty 

 herbage of Atriplex, Kocliia, Salicornia, and Salsola." The association of 

 Salicornias (now Arthrocnemon spp.) with Atriplex and Kochia may have given 

 rise to the idea, expressed by later writers, that the two last were also halophytes. 

 Schimper's ^^^ account is based largely on Schomburgk. Warming's ^^^^^ references 

 to arid Australia are also meagre. There is a general statement that salt lands 

 occur in the central parts of many countries having a "continental" climate, 

 including Australia. He makes no mention of Atriplex or Kochia shrubland, 

 when describing "shrub steppe" vegetation (p. 281). The account in Diels' 

 introductory section on the vegetation of Australia as a whole is more complete. 

 Diels "^^^ does not specially describe the saltbush or bluebush communities of 

 Western Australia. Describing the "desert" (Wiisten) he pointed out that 

 extensive areas without vegetation are not a feature of Australia. There is 

 an arid type of flora with considerable diversity. He distinguishes loamy from 

 sandy "deserts." On the former succulent-leaved Chenopodiaceous plants are 

 the most general. Some types occur in saline depressions, e.g., around Lake 

 Torrens, but others grow freely on the drier "savannah" lands. Discussing the 

 Chenopodiaceae later in the work,<^"^ Diels very pertinently asks if the occurrence 

 of Chenopodiaceae always indicates richness of the soil in sodium chloride. He 

 notes that certain species are prominent in littoral communities. Atriplex 

 paludosum and others grow in salt swamps, while the almost arborescent A. 

 isatidea occurs on stable dune thickets. "All these are naturally halophytes. 

 On the other hand, it is less sure whether the Chenopodiaceae of the interior 

 are also halophytes. In many cases this is at present uncertain ; they occur like 

 members of the Frankeniaceae around the margin of wide valleys that are covered 

 with salt owing to erosion. Other species, however, occur only in stony loam, 

 the salinity of which is not accurately known." Such are the Kochias, numerous 

 Bassias, and "very conspicuous because of their size are the half shrubby 

 Atriplex spp. and Chcnopodium spp., the so-called 'saltbushes' of the pastoralists." 



In Cannon's ^^^ description of arid South Australia the Chenopodiaceous 

 communities, with the possible exception of bluebush, Kochia sedifolia, are 

 regarded as halophytic. 



Adamson and Osborn,*^^^ in their paper "On the Ecology of the Ooldea 

 District," regarded communities of Atriplex vesicarium and Kochia sedifolia as 

 non-halophytic. This opinion was based in part as a result of observations on 

 the zonation of the vegetation around a gypsum salt lake in that district. 



(^) Schomburgk, R., "The Flora of South Australia," in Harcus, "South Austraha," 

 London, 1876, p. 217. 



(5) Schimper, A. F. W., "Plant Geography," Oxford, 1903, p. 504. 

 (5a) Warming, E., "CEcology of Plants," Oxford, 1909, pp. 218, 234. 



(6) Diels, loc. cit. 



(') Diels, loc. cit., p. 274. 



(S) Cannon, W. A., 1921, "Plant Habits and Habitat in the arid portion of South Australia," 

 Carnegie Inst., Washington, Pub. No. 308. 



(9) Adamson, R. S., and Osborn, T. G. B., Trans. Rov. Soc. S. Austr., vol. xlvi., 

 p. 539, 1922. 



