IV THE NORTH AND WEST COAST 117 



The most formidable constituent of this under- 

 scrub is the interesting Horizontal Scrub (Anodo- 

 petalum higlandulosum) (Fig. 32, p. 112), a species 

 and genus of the Saxifrageae, confined to the 

 west coast of Tasmania. The method of growth 

 of this scrub is very remarkable. It starts as a 

 slender sapling and shoots up to fifteen or twenty 

 feet in height ; it then falls over either by its 

 own weight or in a storm, and from the prone 

 trunk new saplings spring up, which, on attaining 

 a certain height, themselves fall over and give 

 rise to new shoots. By the constant repetition 

 of this process, a tangled mass of boughs is formed, 

 ever growing upward and upward, until a kind 

 of platform is produced perhaps thirty or forty 

 feet from the ground, surrounding the trunks of 

 the Myrtles and spanning the gullies in all direc- 

 tions. It is quite impossible to push one's way 

 through the Horizontal Scrub, as the matted 

 boughs are far too thick and strong ; the only 

 way is to walk on the top of the platform, and 

 to beware of treading on a rotten piece, as fre- 

 quently bad accidents have occurred from a man 

 falling right through a hole in the Horizontal 

 Scrub on to the ground some thirty or forty feet 

 below. 



Besides the Horizontal Scrub, very beautiful 

 Heath bushes (Epacris, Gualteria, &c.), adorned 

 with coloured or white berries, relieve the pre- 

 vailing green, and in the guUies the Tree-ferns 

 grow in the greatest luxuriance. The boles of 



