196 Ewart and Tovey : 



iu'e regular and well defined, they are not annual rings. The tree 

 could not have been planted more than fifty-five years ago, probably 

 not more than fifty years ago. On some of the projecting buttresses 

 the rings totalled from 220 to 263. The smallest number between 

 the buttresses was 121. The tree can, therefore, form two to four 

 rings in one year. These narrow rings aie formed of alternate 

 layers of wood fibres mixed with vessels, and of thin walled, 

 rounded, almost parenchymatous cells resembling somewhat tan- 

 gential medullary rays. If the cross section is examined from a 

 distance sufficient to obscure the narrow rings, the broader annual 

 rings can be distinguished. The number of these was 46, and in 

 the buttresses they were broader and included more of the narrower 

 rings. 



The death of the tree was due not to any interruption of the 

 water supply, but to the starvation and death of the roots. The 

 wood of the Moreton Bay fig apparently retains the poAver of con- 

 ducting water indefinitely, or at least, up to an age of 40 or more 

 jea.rs. 



Gleichenia Hermanni, R.Br. = G. linearis, Clarke. (Filicales). 



As there are no Victorian specimens of this plant, it cannot be 

 retained in the Flora of Victoria. 



Gleichenia laevigata (VVilld), Hook. (Filicales), 



There appears to have been some confusion regarding the nomen- 

 clature of this fern. In ** Hooker's Synopsis Filicum," G. laevi- 

 gata is given as a synonym to G. flagellaris, Spreiigl., but in Chris- 

 tensen's '* Index Filicum,'^ they are kept distinct. See also 

 '* Domin. Prod. Farnfl. Qld. 205, Rosenburgh, in his Handbook 

 of Malayan Ferns, adoptsi G. laevigata. Hook, for the Malayan 

 specimens. The typical G. flagellaris, Spreng. is a native of Mauci- 

 tius only, whilst G. laevigata is a Malayan fern extending to xA.us- 

 tralia. Some specimens of G. laevigata have also been confused 

 with G. flabellata, R. Br. — those labelled G. flabellata and 

 given in Bentham's Flora Australiensis, Vol. VII., p. 698 (1878) 

 under Victorian localities, proved to be G. laevigata. Hooker. 



The distribution of G. laevigata. Hook, and G. flabellata, R. Br., 

 in Australia, appears to be limited to the Eastern and Northern 

 portion — i.e., Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, 

 and Noithern Australia. 



