664 



Notes on Styphelia depressa (The Native Currant). 



The specimens exhibited show two very distinct forms. 

 The larger one is from a plant growing in the wild part of my 

 garden ; came from the Barossa Ranges, in some parts of which 

 it is ver}^ common. The smaller form was collected by me 

 in the mallee, near Woodchester, on what is known as 

 Chance's line. 



The mallee form is much more slender in growth ; the 

 branches bearing flowers are very much more slender than in 

 those from Barossa. The general appearance is markedly 

 different, owing to the leaves of the mallee one being half the 

 length of the Barossa species, viz., 2h mm., as against 5 mm. ; 

 but the width at the base is almost similar in both, the 

 mallee one being over 1-J mm. wide, against the Barossa forms 

 2 mm. There is a bare -i mm. difference in the width, 

 although in length one is double the other. The former is 

 broadly ovate, whereas the latter is lanceolate. The edges of 

 the mallee species are more folded over than the other, and 

 the leaf -stalk proportionately longer and curiously bent. 



The fruit of the Barossa species is larger and more juicy. 

 I am able to show flowers of the mallee species, but the 

 Barosssa one is not yet out, so that I am unable for the pre- 

 sent to make a careful comparison of the two flowers. 



Remarks. — I have found that the Barossa species is 

 easily acclimatized to the conditions of Blackwood, provided 

 the young plants are watered a few times through the first 

 two years. I have never been able to get any to come up 

 from seed ; perhaps that is the reason that this really valuable 

 fruit has never been introduced to the fruit gardens of this 

 State by nurserymen. 



Edwin Ashby. 



October 11, 1917. 



