HORN EXPEDITION NARRATIVE. 47 



curve over until they meet each other at the top, and look as if tin-)- harl \)(^on 

 purposely tied up into a bundle swelling out in the middle. 



The Ereniopiiilas as a general lule form smaller shrubs than the Cassias, their 

 leaves are nothing like so wii-y, and their branches are not so straight, so tint they 

 ate thicker and more luishy in appearance. 



All th(^ Cassia ilowers seem to be yellow, but tiio tulnilar corollas of the 

 Eremophilas are of \'ai'ious tints, blue, pink, pnrjile, white or yellowish, with dark 

 red spots. 



In addition there are, every now and then, patches of rugged stennned Hakeas 

 with stifl' spike like leaves, or of (rrevilleas — the "silky-oaks" with their grey white 

 foliage. Now and again is a Codonocarpus, the "native pojdar " with light green 

 leathery leave.s, or a big, bright green bush of Dodonea with shining viscid leaves, 

 or a stiff broomdike Templetonia. 



Many of the trees — Acacias, Eucalypts, (rrevilleas — are studded with clumps 

 of Loranthus — the Australian Mistletoe, with green, red or yellowish Ilowers and 

 white or red l)erries. Occasionally a single Acacia will have more than one species 

 growing on it, but on the other hand some species will be found confined principally 

 to one tree as for example Lorautlnis i:;il<bcyi(his to the Grevilleas. 



The ground is haid, yt^llow and sandy with tufts of withered grass. Now and 

 again it is Ijrightened with a patch of "everlastings" — yellow ITelichrysums or 

 beautiful white, purple and pink Ptilotus in full tlower — but as a general rule tlie 

 sharp shadows of the thin scrub fall only on bare ground studded with endless little 

 ant hills. 



Such is the general character of the scrul) thi'ough which we travelled day 

 after day, at times passing along Hats by the creek beds wdiere the vegetation was 

 a little less parched up than usual, or rising on to upland plains with salt-bush, 

 and great spherical masses of Salsola, which, when withered up, are easily toi'n 

 from their roots and are carried away, bounding like yellow balls before the strong 

 south east winds which prevail during the winter months. This salsolaceous 

 vegetation is very characteristic of the stony and loamy plains of the Lower 

 Steppes, lying between Oodnadatta on the south, and the Finke at Tdracowra, on 

 the north ; in this distiict there is only a very little Porcupine grass (Triodia sp.) 

 to be .seen ; liut, further north again, in the Higher Steppes, this becomes a 

 dominant feature of the dry sandy flats and often of the hill sides extending right 

 to the top of the highest peaks such as Mount Sonder. 



