GLOSSARY. 147 



Native Gooseberry.— BILLARDIERA. (Natural Order, 

 Pittospore.e.) Pp. 53, 197. — A genus of handsome, usually 

 undertwining shrubs, principally met with in damp forests, 

 shady ravines, and on banks of streams, and also in the 

 Mallee scrub of South Australia. The genus is confined to 

 Australia and Tasmania. Some species — such as Billardieras 

 scandens and longiflora, both indigenous to Victoria — produce 

 yellowish-white, bell-shaped flowers. Others — for instance, 

 Billardieras cymosa and varllfolla, the former a native of 

 Victoria, the latter of Tasmania — bear beautiful blue flowers, 

 succeeded by oblong or cylindrical succulent berries. 



Native Grape Vine. — VITIS. (Natural Order, Ampe- 

 lide/e.) P. 39. — Fills hypoglauca, an evergreen climber, 

 is the Native Grape Vine of East Gippsland. It is found 

 abundantly on the banks of watercourses, especially in New 

 South Wales. All the Australian species were, and probably 

 are still, best known by the obsolete term Cissus. 



Native Grass Tree. — XANTHORRHCEA. (Natural 

 Order, Juncace^e.) Pp. 32, 34, 207. — A very curious and 

 interesting genus, confined to Australia. Two species are 

 indigenous to Victoria and New South Wales — Xanthorrhosa 

 aus trails and X. minor. Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata and 

 X. semlplana, as also the two species previously mentioned, 

 are found in South Australia. X. anstralls has a tree-like 

 form, the trunk rarely exceeding 6 feet in height in Victoria, 

 but in parts of New South Wales often 15 feet, and having 

 outwardly a great resemblance to some of the Cycads. 

 X. minor grows in large, grass-like tussocks, especially in 

 poor, damp ground ; it is very plentiful about Dandenong. 

 Xanthorrhoza australls usually occupies the slopes of hills 

 on clayey soils, often presenting a weird appearance. A 



