BY FRED. TURNER. 379 



Order. Small, red, succulent drupes are sometimes produced in 

 abundance on the almost leafless branches of Spartothamnus 

 jnnceus A. Cunn. Avicennia officinalis Linn., is a small tree 

 common on the coast, and popularly known as " White Man- 

 grove." Labiatce are well represented by species, most of them 

 widely distributed. Many species are remarkable for their 

 powerfully scented leaves studded with resinous glands, and 

 some of them have yielded, by distillation, valuable oils. Most 

 of the species are perennial herbs, but some of shrubby habit, 

 the tallest being Prostanthera lasianthos Labill., which attains 

 sometimes a height of twenty-five to thirty feet. Prostanthera 

 is more largely represented by species than any other genus of 

 this Order, and most of them are very floriferous. The flowers 

 generally are different shades of white, blue, and purple. Quite 

 a number of exotic Labiatce have become acclimatised, a few of 

 them having spread very much during recent years. 



There are only two indigenous genera and species of Phyto- 

 laccacece in this region, and neither is plentiful. One is a 

 straggling shrub, but the other, Codonocarpus australis A. Cunn., 

 grows thirty or more feet high. Its curious, almost campanulate 

 fruit, which is suspended on a long pedicel, is composed of forty 

 or fifty carpels which when ripe have prominent ribs on their 

 dorsal edges. I have noticed a beautifully variegated form of 

 the introduced Phytolacca octandra Linn., but it is not common. 

 Chenopodiacece include several excellent fodder plants, but are 

 not nearly as numerous as on the western plains. Indeed, several 

 genera are not represented by a single species in the North-East. 

 Although the species of Amarantacece and Polygonacece occur in 

 greater or less profusion over a great part of this area, 

 some of them may be regarded as weeds of an undesirable 

 character. There are only three species of Nyctaginece, and 

 two of them, Pisonia acu/eata Linn., and P. brunoniana 

 Endl., are rather uncommon. The former is a tall climber 

 when growing in dense forests, but in more open country 

 it assumes the habit of a low straggling shrub, while the latter is 

 a, large tree. Monimiacece consist of trees, shrubs and climbers. 



