TOPOGRAPHICAL, ECOLOGICAL AND TAXONOMIC NOTES. 323 



extensively deleted, the remainder presenting no excep- 

 tional features. This applies also to the headland at the 

 south end of the beach on which the flora is similar to that 

 described on the northern headland. 



On the rugged escarpment at the northern end of Manly 

 Beach numerous plants of Olearia dentata Andr., find a 

 lodgment. The normal habit and stature of these soft- 

 wooded shrubs is well maintained in this exposed position, 

 but a considerable divergence in foliage was noted, the 

 flowers also varying in colour from deep blue to pure white. 

 The usual comparatively flat area at the end of the beach 

 is covered with an almost pure growth of Carex pumila, 

 into which the Spinifex — a few trails of which crown the 

 occasional ridges — is the only intruder. Behind the Oarex, 

 which runs inland 200 - 300 yards along the banks of the 

 entrance channel to Ourl Ourl Lagoon, two introduced 

 shrubs Poly gala myrtifolia L., a native of South Africa, 

 and Lantana Camara L n from South America, have in 

 combination colonised an extensive tract on the banks of 

 the channel. 



The dune embankment at Manly Beach has been artifici- 

 ally levelled and turfed, and protected by a wall of masonry 

 extending from the southern end of the beach to some 

 distance beyond the centre. At the northern end the front 

 is unprotected and requires constant renewal, both Couch 

 and Buffalo, of which the lawn is composed, receding 

 as the bank is eroded. The wind is here raising a sand- 

 ridge parallel to the turfed embankment — upon which the 

 Spinifex is already established — which will eventually 

 afford a measure of protection to the artificial sward. 



Immediately behind the beacji an avenue of the Norfolk 

 Island Pine, Araucaria excelsa R. Br., has been planted, 

 the results fully justifying the encomiums bestowed upon 

 this tree for maritime situations by the Government 



