52 A NATURALIST IN TASMANIA ch. 



a feathery appearance. It is, like all the other 

 native trees and shrubs of Tasmania, evergreen, 

 but the other Tasmanian Beech (Fagus Gunnii), 

 a small shrub found only upon the western moun- 

 tains, has the distinction of being the only 

 deciduous tree in Tasmania. On Mount Welling- 

 ton the Myrtle only grows very sparsely, the 

 predominant forest trees being all Eucalypts of 

 various species. 



The underscrub on Mount Wellington varies 

 very much in different localities. In the damp 

 gullies Tree-ferns (chiefly Dichsonia) grow with 

 great luxuriance, while on the lower slopes a 

 multitude of flowering shrubs form a tangled mass 

 of inextricable confusion. One of the commonest 

 elements here, as in all parts of Tasmania, is the 

 Tea-tree of various kinds (Leptospermum and 

 Melaleuca), a densely-growing tall shrub with 

 small grey-green leaves, belonging to the same 

 order as the Eucalypts, the Myrtaceae, and having 

 rather similar fruit, but the flower is not a bottle- 

 brush, having large pink and white petals. It 

 was from the stem of this tree that the aboriginals 

 used to fashion their spears and waddies. On 

 the higher slopes, in the neighbourhood of and 

 above the springs for instance, the underscrub 

 assumes a sub-Alpine character, and the Gum- 

 trees are greatly thinned and dwarfed in size. 

 In this region an interesting tree, Senecio centro- 

 pappus, belonging to the same genus as our 

 common European Groundsel, is found, and occurs 



