EUCALYPTUS TBEES. 177 



of its only congener, the Monkey-bread-tree, or Bao- 

 bab of tropical Africa (Adansonia digitata), dissimilar 

 mainly in having its nuts not suspended on long fruit- 

 stalks. Evidence, though not conclusive, gained in 

 Australia, when applied to the African Baobab, ren- 

 ders it improbable that the age of any individual tree 

 now In existence dates from remote antiquity. This 

 view is also held by Dr. G. Bennett, of Sydney. The 

 tree is of economic importance ; its stem yields a mu- 

 cilage indurating to a tragacanth-like gum. It is also 

 one of the few trees which introduces the unwonted 

 sight of deciduous foliage into the evergreen Austra- 

 lian vegetation. Numerous swamps and smaller lakes 

 exist within moderate distance of the coast ; as in 

 many other parts of Australia, these waters are sur- 

 rounded by the wiry Polygonum (Muehlenbeckia 

 Cunninghami), and in Arnhemsland occasionally also 

 by rice-plants, not distinct from the ancient culture- 

 plant. But here, in almost equinoctial latitudes, the 

 stagnant fresh waters are almost invariably nourishing 

 two Water-lilies of great beauty (Nymphsea stellata 

 and Nymphsea gigantea), which give, by the gay dis- 

 play of their blue, pink, or crimson shades of flowers, 

 or by their pure white, a brilliant aspect to these lakes ; 

 and even the Pythagorean bean (Nelumbo nucifera) 

 sends occasionally its fine shield-like leaves and large 

 blossom and esculent fruits out of the still and shel- 

 tered waters. But how much could this splendor of 

 lake- vegetation be augmented if the reginal Victoria, 

 the prodigious "Water-lily of the Amazon River, was 

 scattered and naturalized in these lakes, to expand 

 over their surface its stupendous leaves, and to send 

 forth its huge, snowy, and crimson, fragrant flowers. 



