550 THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 
which predominate in the forests and give quite a special character 
to Australian vegetation, if we name the Xanthorrea, the Casuarina, 
the Araucaria excelsa, a few elegant Epacride, a great number of 
pretty Leguminosez and Orchidacee, we shall give a general idea 
of the vegetable mantle which covers and decorates, in a manner so 
original, the whole continent, if we may so call it, of Australia. 
The Xanthorrea has a thick stem; long, narrow, linear leaves, 
curved and spreading at the summit, from the centre of which 
rises an elongated stipe, terminated by a spike of robust flowers, 
which impress their peculiar character on all places where it 
abounds. The Casuarina has long, pendent, and drooping boughs, 
most delicately articulated. Araucaria excelsa, whose column-like 
trunk and verticillated branches rise to the height of ninety or a 
hundred feet ; the elegant Epacridex with flowers so varied ; a vast 
number of pretty Leguminose, which now add to the riches of our 
hothouses ; more than a hundred and twenty Orchidaceze—nearly 
all belong exclusively to the special vegetation of Australia. 
The large islands of New Zealand almost correspond in latitude — 
to the zone which we have been examining. These islands are 
the nearest land (considering Van Diemen’s Land as part of 
Australia) and are interesting as being the direct antipodes of 
Western Europe, and because they repeat as it were our Mediter- 
ranean region on the other side of the globe. While resembling 
it in climate, however, the native vegetation has its own charac- 
teristics. It has some features in common with Australia and the 
tropics, as will appear from the account given of them by Messrs. 
Richard and Lesson, whose account we chiefly follow. 
In the large island of Tha-na-Mawi there are immense forests 
of Lianes and interlacing shrubs, which render them impenetrable. 
In these forests there exist, no doubt, trees of gigantic dimensions, 
for the canoes of the natives are sometimes as much as sixty feet 
long, and from three to four broad, all hollowed out of one trunk. 
At from two to four miles from the coast Messrs. Richard and 
Lesson saw large spaces, very low and probably marshy, covered 
with great masses of: green trees, of which the Dacrydium cuprés- 
sinum and Podocarpus dacrydioides, and some others, form the 
principal species. The vegetation of the harbour where the Astro; 
labe lay was very beautiful, although the number of cryptogamous : 
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