. 
‘ which contrasts so strongly with the sombre green atmosphe 
dith in Dcleccen-siilile ds said to have a musky odour, but I have nero 
observed ophylla. 
18 TASMANIAN FORESTS: THEIR BOTANY AND ECONOMICAL VALUE, 
the banks of the Huon and Kermandee oe right down t 
the beach. The aspects of these forests are most peculiar, and 
quite different from the thickly timbered lint of other par 
of the island. The vegetation is dense and almost tropical i in 
character. The most conspicuous objects are the tall and taper- 
ing blue gum feat which name I shall always refer subse- 
fron 300 to 400 feet high. _ Long bands of bark ha ang down from 
motion by the wind keep up a constant rattle and creaking, 
filling the gloomy forest with the strangest echoes and sounds. 
The great height of the trees would never be imagined sn the 
aspect they present. As they always grow on very steep slopes 
and never crown the summit of the ridges, their height; is lost 
against the adjacent ranges. It is only when standing at the foot 
of their moss-cove ems, where the roots rise gracefully uP 
around from the buttress-like base, twisting and turning roun 
the bole like massive moorings, that one gets an idea of their 
enormous size. Jar above one’s head, twinkling in the spe le 
around, a moderate tuft a leaves is seen at the summit of ihe 
gracefu il yet massive stem. The branches look nothing beside 
the butt, and in reality the effect of the crown W rith the straggling 
la it is generally what is called sassafras (Atherosperm@ 
moschatum), muskwood (Olearia argophylla), beech (Fagus cum- 
minghami), pine (Frenela sant ope sik Underneath this there is 
always an almost impenetrable scrub of pear tree Pdemayor 
elliptica), stinkwood (Ziera smithii), varied with fern trees, 
rarely any other vane Dicksonia —— a, with an undergrowth 4 
of patersoni, &e. Sometimes the fore little 
OED EE ae 
See 
ged i Gipetiance by a Seams etl of Bedford slicing 
pat rosmarinifolia, Senecio lautus, australis, and v leioides, — 
learea viscosa* and glandulosa, Aster ramulosus, &e. ; er it is 
very beautifully covered over with the showy blossoms, or still 
es, 
a Oe 
