641 



An endeavour is here made to distinguish satisfactorily 

 between the two species. 



.4. varians, Benth. (A. salicina, Lindl., vav. varians, 

 Benth.), The "Native Willow," or "Broughton Willow," of 

 South Australia; the 'Cooba," of New South Wales. A large 

 tree, 6-12 m. high, inhabiting moist situations, especially 

 the flats along running creeks or rivers. Near the Rocky 

 River I have found the trunk up to 50 cm. in diameter. The 

 branches start a long way above the base : the branchlets droop 

 gracefully towards the ground. The flower-heads are few 

 and pale yellow ; some of the racemes are slightly branched 

 and leafy, so that the inflorescence is really a small, droop- 

 ing, leafy panicle. The pods are thick and woody, with obtuse 

 edges, and without any or with very slight constriction 

 between the seeds ; the ripe valves do not break transversely 

 between the seeds, as do those in .4. salicina. The pods are 

 few, and I think this paucity of flowers and fruit is due to 

 the fact that .4. varians propagates itself principally by 

 suckers, which form young plants around the parent stem; 

 at least that is my experience with trees growing near the 

 Rocky River. Habitat — The Broughton River and its 

 affluent, the Rocky, between Laura and Gladstone ; Baroota 

 Creek, where it issues from the Flinders Range ; Mount 

 Lyndhurst (Max Koch) ; Oodnadatta and further north (S. 

 A. White) ; and probably in many other parts of the State. 

 I have not seen it on the Murray, but it should be found 

 there, as it has been reported from that river in Victoria, 

 and from its tributaries, the Darling and Lachlan, in New 

 South Wales. The type was collected by Mitchell in 1846 

 on the Balonne River, Queensland. When reducing it to 

 var. varians (Fl. Aust., ii., 367), Bentham wrote: — "It is 

 generally a very distinct form, and it is with some hesitation 

 that I have followed F. Mueller in considering it a variety 

 only of A. salicina. " Bentham gave this opinion on herbarium 

 specimens : if he had seen the Native Willow and the 

 Umbrella Bush in their Australian home it is probable that 

 he would have persisted in treating .4. varians as a separate 

 species. Capt. White has furnished me with the following 

 interesting note : — '"'Of course it is very difficult to judge the 

 natural growth of acacias in a country which has once been 

 stocked, because all kinds of stock will feed upon them, and 

 camels are specially fond of acacias, and can usually reach 

 the topmost branches. There is a tree much resembling the 

 Native Willow growing in the country north and west of 

 Oodnadatta, and, for all I know, it may be the Willow grow- 

 ing in a dry country, but I thought it differed somewhat 

 from the tree known as the Native Willow, and growing at 

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