324 A. A. HAMILTON. 



Botanist, Mr. J. H. Maiden, who on p. 984 of the article on 

 44 The Sand-drift Problem," previously referred to, says: — 



"It revels in the sea air; its narrow leaves and conical 



shape present comparatively little resistance to strong 

 winds; it is ornamental in appearance, and it furnishes a 

 useful soft wood." 



At the southern end of the beach several trees, the 

 remnant of a forest of Melaleuca leucadendron L. v&r.albida 

 (Sieb.) E. OheelMS. (Melaleuca Smithii R.T. Baker) whose 

 usual liabitat is low-lying swampy ground, are established 

 on the rocky hillside which runs eastward to the ocean 

 headland. On its sheltered (northern) slope a series of 

 grasses occur, all occupying dry stations. The slender 

 stemmed Panicum parviflorum R. Br., Small-flowered 

 Finger-grass; Echinopogon ovatus Beauv., the Rough- 

 bearded grass, with a climatic range from Northern Queens- 

 land south to New Zealand ; the variable Poa ccespitosa 

 Forst.; and the weedy, cosmopolitan, Parramatta Grass, 

 Sporobolus indicus R. Br. Two Restiaceous plants, Caustis 

 pentandra R.Br., and Lepyrodia scariosa R. Br., are here 

 occasionally associated. The latter is more frequent in 

 the drier parts of the swamp, the conditions prevailing in 

 either station producing a similar effect on the size and 

 habit of its tufts. The Caustis is confined to the sandstone 

 hillside, and in the open forest country in the National 

 Park, and on the lower slopes of the Blue Mountains is a 

 graceful plant with a drooping habit, its cane-like stems 

 reaching a length of seven feet, but on the headland it is 

 reduced to a stunted tussocky growth rarely exceeding two 

 feet in height. 



On the soil patches coating the drainage soaked, basal 

 rock ledges, a typical congeries of ruderal plants is 

 assembled. The mud-creeping Penny-wort, Hydrocotyle 

 vulgaris L., overruns the tufts of Cy penis polystachyus 



