90 A US TR A LI AN BOTANY. 



cabbage palm {Livistona \Coryphd) Australis), 1 and walking- 

 stick palm (Areca mouostachya), together with tall tree-ferns 

 of great beauty, covered with orchids, shade with their 

 fronds the shining Laurus, the richly-scented Eupomatia, the 

 waxy-flowered Hoya, and native Convolvulus. 



Epiphytal ferns, the 'stag-horn,' 'elk-horn' (Platyceriums), 

 and ' bird's nest ' (Aspleniitm), grow upon the stems of the 

 tallest trees, and are suggestive of the capitals on a 

 colonnade. These stems are sometimes clad with Pothos 

 longipes, or festooned with lawyer palm (Calamus Australis). 

 The tall cane called Flagella7'ia i?idica is frequently drawn 

 up to a height of more than ioo feet, embellishing and 

 diversifying the scenery. Huge climbers, such as Wistaria 

 megasfterma, Lonchocarpus, Derris, Pipogonum, Tecoma, and 

 Passiflora Banksiz, like mighty cables, bind one tree to 

 another, and help to form with their foliage, at more than 

 150 feet overhead, a screen through which sunbeams rarely 

 pierce. 



In the summer season, richly coloured beetles and butter- 



1 The geographical limits of this magnificent palm in Victoria have 

 hitherto been but imperfectly known ; but while the first edition of this 

 work was going through the press, I received a communication from the 

 renowned explorer, A. W. Howitt, Esq., of Bairnsdale, Gippsland, 

 who, in a letter dated 27th May 1878, says : ' I am not aware that the 

 cabbage palm occurs in any other part of Gippsland than at Mount 

 Raymond, that is, at Cabbage-tree Creek, the source of which rises in 

 that mount. I have not met with any elsewhere in the country, east 

 of the Snowy River, nor have I heard of any other place in Victoria 

 where it is to be found.' 



Another authority, Mr. Vavaseur, of Rigby Island, Gippsland Lakesy. 

 has also since informed me that at the place indicated by Mr. Howitt, 

 he has frequently seen this noble palm growing to a height of from 100 

 to 150 feet, and towering majestically above the myrtle and other 

 indigenous trees surrounding it. W. R. G. 



