TOPOGRAPHICAL, ECOLOGICAL, AND TAXONOMIC NOTES 293 



by the eddy which its presence creates. At this stage the 

 plant makes use of its capacity for vertical movement only, 

 rising with the sand and producing a secondary root system 

 on the stem (adventitious) at a distance from the base, in 

 conformity with the measure of the drift. When the stem 

 is securely rooted in the new position, the lower portion, 

 together with the old root attachment is discarded, and 

 eventually decays, adding a modicum of humus to the sand. 

 The mounds eventually become confluent at the base, and 

 the Fescue travelling laterally by means of its horizontal 

 rhizomes, connects them, forming them into a low bank. 

 Concurrently with the movement of the Fescue, the Spinifex 

 has felt its way down the slope towards its associate, and 

 these tireless builders meet and join forces in the work of 

 reclamation. When engaged in the rehabilitation of the 

 storm blown sand banked up on the rearward slopes, which 

 has buried the previously existing vegetation, the Fescue 

 brings both vertical and horizontal thrust into play, form- 

 ing a series of elongated ridges, running parallel to the 

 strand, and which are finally merged into a second embank- 

 ment, with the usual valley lying between it and the frontal 

 slope. 



Of the species enumerated 10 are endemic in the Port 

 Jackson district ; 4 extend to the Blue Mountains; 45 are 

 found in New South Wales only; 5 in New South Wales and 

 Victoria; 18 in New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania; 

 4 extend from New South Wales to South Australia; 3 from 

 New South Wales to Western Australia; 33 occur in both 

 Queensland and New South Wales; 48 in Queensland, New 

 South Wales and Victoria ; 35 extend from Queensland to 

 South Australia; 24 from Queensland to West Australia; 

 8 from North Australia to New South Wales; and 2 are 

 found in all the Australian States. Known and suspected 

 aliens number 25 and there are 55 species — indigenous and 

 alien — with an extra Australian range. 45% of the whole 



