DISTRIBUTION OF CONIFEROUS PLANTS. 43 



Hemisphere Conifers are also separated from the Northern ones by- 

 several well denned characters both as regards their vegetation and 

 also their reproduction/ so that no Northern genus has a repre- 

 sentative in the South.f 



In Australia the species are numerous, but each is restricted to 

 comparatively narrow limits. There are considerable forests of Arau- 

 caria in the neighbourhood of Moreton Bay; and scattered through 

 the " scrub," Dammaras, Frenelas, and Podocarps are more or less 

 frequent. In Western Australia the Actinostrobi and Frenelas are 

 abundant. New Caledonia, botanically included in the Australian 

 Begion, is rich in Conifers — two species of Araucaria and two of 

 Dammara are indigenous to the island; Frenelas, Dacrydiums, and 

 Podocarps are also common. In Tasmania, where rain falls at all 

 seasons, Conifers are also more abundant than on the mainland. 

 Athrotaxis, a genus, including two or three species, allied to the 

 Calif ornian Sequoias, Fitzroya (Diselma), and Microcachrys, each 

 including but a single species, are all peculiar to the island; and 

 the Yew tribe is represented by Dacrydium and Phyllocladus. In 

 New Zealand the Coniferse attain their maximum in numbers in the 

 Southern Hemisphere, constituting, according to Sir J. D. Hooker, 

 as much as one-sixty-second part of the phanerogamic Flora of 

 the colony. Here some of the members of the Cypress and Yew 

 tribe attain the dimensions of large trees; the Incense Cedar 

 {Libocedrus Doniana), the Totara Pine (Podocarjpus Totara), and the 

 Kauri Pine (Dammara australis), are among the most valuable of 

 timber trees in the island. 



The South African region, which is situated about midway between 

 Australia and the South American forest region, is poorer in 

 Conifers than either; two or three species of Widdringtonia and a 

 few Podocarps being the only plants belonging to the order found 

 there. The Araucaria forests of Southern Brazil and the western 

 slopes of the Andes of Yaldivia are among the most remarkable 

 features of the South American forest regions. The Incense Cedars 

 (two species), and Podocarps are abundant in Southern Chili; and 

 towards the extreme verge of the continent, the Yew tribe is further 



* The Dammaras, which, with the Araucarias, are the southern representatives of the 

 Pines and Firs, have broad flattened leaves, and in both the development of the seed is on 

 quite a different principle. Differences not less striking are observable in the other tribes. 



t The Libocedrus decurrens of California is an exception. 



