380 BOTANY OF NORTH-EASTERN NEW SOUTH WALES, 



Doryphora sassafras Endl., generally found in rich scrub land, 

 and Atherosperma moschata Labill., growing in mountainous 

 country, are highly aromatic and of some medicinal value. 

 Several trees of this Order yield timber of some industrial 

 importance. The eight genera, twenty-two species and several 

 varieties of Laurineai include trees, shrubs and leafless parasitical 

 twiners. With one exception, th^y are fairly well distributed 

 both on high and low land. The leaves of most of the trees and 

 shrubs are more or less aromatic, and the timber of the former is 

 of great industrial value. The rarest tree and one of the most 

 remarkable when in fruit is Hemandia bivalvis Benth. The red, 

 almost fleshy involucel enclosing the ripe fruit is called " Parrot's 

 beak," from its fancied resemblance to the beak of a parrot. All 

 the species of Cassytha are leafless, parasitical twiners with 

 delicate or wiry stems. They attach themselves to their hosts, 

 usually small trees and shrubs, by means of numerous, small 

 haustoria (suckers) through which they obtain sustenance. Most 

 species produce quantities of small, succulent drupes, pleasant to 

 the taste and often eaten by whites and blacks. The Order 

 Proteacece, considered either from an economic or an ornamental 

 point of view, is most important. It includes several valuable 

 timber trees, and some of the most interesting, flowering, arboreal 

 and shrubby vegetation to be found in New South Wales. Both 

 the Suborders Nucamentacea and Folliculares are well represented 

 and fairly widely distributed; the former by four genera, sixteen 

 species and several varieties, the latter by ten genera, thirty 

 species and a few varieties. The most important edible nut- 

 bearing tree is Macadamia ternifolia F.v. M. This moderate- 

 sized tree was figured and described, as to its economic value, b}' 

 me under instructions from the Government of New South Wales.* 

 Xylomelum pyriforme Knight, produces the famous wooden 

 pears. This fair-sized tree, generally growing on poor sandstone 

 or sandy country, is a remarkable object when in fruit. The 

 most conspicuous flowering tree is Stenocarpus sinuatus Endl. 



* See 'Agricultural Gazette,' Vol.iv, p. 3. 



