STUDY OF PHENOLOGTCAL PHENOMENA IN AUSTRALIA. 161 



majority of plants have vernacular names with which a 

 large number of people are familiar, (indeed in the Reports 

 of the Royal Meteorological Society the plants are referred 

 to by their vernacular names only), and secondly, because 

 an enormous amount of information in regard to the flower- 

 ing periods of plants was already a matter of common 

 knowledge. 



In our extensive State, to say nothing of other Australian 

 States, we shall probably find it desirable to submit lists of 

 three groups of plants, as already hinted, e.g., 1. Coast. 

 2. Table-lands. 3. Western plains. 



Following are some of the practical difficulties in sub- 

 mitting lists of plants in Australia : — 



1. Few of our plants have common names. 



2. Many names are more or less confusing, i.e., we have 

 more than one Blackbutt, Peppermint, Stringybark, Grey 

 Box, Red Gum, etc. Of such plants as "Tea-trees" and 

 "Everlastings," "Buttercups" and "Goodenias" we have 

 so many as to cause difficulty. 



3. Big trees are not suitable as a rule, as they are too 

 high up, and their flowers are often inconspicuous. Trees 

 are much higher in Australia than in Britain, as a general 

 rule. 



4. There is readily room for confusion amongst Green 

 and Black Wattles, well as most people know them in a 

 particular district. There is even difficulty with the 

 Christmas bush (Ceratopetalum gumtniferum) as many 

 people ignore the true flowers and only take note of the 

 coloured calyces. 



New South Wales, for the purpose of these observations 

 may be provisionally divided into the following regions : — 

 1. Coast districts. 2. Table-land and Western slopes. 

 3. Western plains. 



K— Sept, 1,1909. 



