20 



tenella. In some specimens both the few female- and the 

 numerous bisexual flowers have only 1 pappus bristle. In 

 outward appearance the variety can be distinguished from 

 the type only by the scales of the peduncle, which are not 

 wholly scarious, but herbaceous in the lower part, and thus 

 pass gradually into the stem-leaves. 



Cratystylis conocephala, (F. v. M.) S. Moore. Eighty 

 miles north of Renmark (J. B. Cleland). 



Cephalipterum Drummondii, A. Gray. (Plate ii.) 

 Tarcoola, Barton, Ooldea. A common plant along the East- 

 West Railway, covering considerable areas with its snow-white 

 flower heads. Diels and Pritzel (Fragm. phyt. Aust. occid. 

 615) divide this species as follows: — 



1. Forma minor capite universo 1-1*5 cm. diam., pappo 

 exteriore deminuto. 



2. Forma major (typica autoris) capite universo 2"5-5 cm. 

 diam., pappo exteriore conspicuo. 



All the plants which I collected at the places above- 

 mentioned were of the smaller form, but the type appears 

 also to exist in our State, as I have specimens with the large 

 compressed heads gathered by B. S. Jobson in 1918 at some 

 station stated to be east of Ooldea. The difference in the 

 scale or outer pappus in the two forms is easily discernible. 

 In the type (fig. 1 of the plate) it is a small ovate ciliate 

 membranous unilateral extension of the border of the achene; 

 in the smaller form (fig. 2) it is very short, thick, fleshy, and 

 so inconspicuous that it is rather difficult to recognize. In 

 the innermost sterile flowers of both forms it is quite obsolete. 

 The scale is situated on the inner or posterior face of the 

 achene. The hairs of the outer achenes are of two kinds. 

 Those which occupy vertically the outer face of the achene 

 are seen under the microscope to be twisted spirally (figs. 1, 

 2, 3), but when moistened they often unroll from the base 

 and show that each apparently simple hair consists of two 

 hairs coiled round each other, loosely in the lower part and 

 tightly towards the summit. These are distinct in character 

 from the long intricate hairs which cover the inner face and 

 sides of the achene and which are furnished with hooked barbs 

 towards the end (figs. 1, 2, 4). The pappus proper, or inner 

 pappus, consists of 3-6 erect bristles rising inside the very 

 obtuse border which crowns the achene. These bristles are 

 almost plumose in the upper part and penicillate at the 

 summit. As the bristles fall off almost at a touch, even before 

 the achene is ripe, it is evident that they serve no purpose 

 except to protect the flower. The dispersal of the fruits is 

 probably effected by animals, as the long flexuose hairs of 



