334 A. A. HAMILTON. 



Mittagong on the southern highlands, where it was recently 

 ■collected by Mr. W. Greenwood 4, 1916. Both M. armillaris 

 and M. hypericifolia, appear to be fugitives in these moun- 

 tain localities. The habitat given by Bentham for the 

 latter species, Fl. Austr. iii, 131, is, "In swampy places, 

 Port Jackson," but it is usually found on well drained 

 sandstone hillsides. 



A coastal Needle-bush, Hakea pubescens Schrad., which 

 has a limited range within the State and occurs also in 

 Queensland, is represented in the Port Jackson district by 

 a few small colonies which are confined to the sandstone 

 hills. The much commoner H. sericea Schrad., its nearest 

 affinity, does not so closely approach the shoreline. Crypt- 

 -andra amara Sm., a twiggy xerophytic undershrub, which 

 ranges from the sea-board to the Western Plains, advances 

 in small, closely packed colonies, to a frontal position on the 

 headland. A few isolated bushes of Styphelia viridis Andr., 

 Five Corners, are scattered among the headland shrubbery. 

 This species, which has a range from Port Jackson to 

 Queensland, is better represented on the sandhills. 



At the top of a "dyke" which here intrudes the escarp- 

 ment, a sand patch carpeted by the Common Couch, has 

 weathered, exposing its front, and the capillary roots of 

 the Couch are disclosed, threading a tortuous course 

 through the sand to a depth of three feet and matting on 

 the subsoil, a ferruginous hard-pan, which they are unable 

 to penetrate. In the narrow passage of the dyke the only 

 plants noted were Scirpus cernuus Vahl., Apium pros- 

 -bratum, Samolus repens, and Lobelia anceps, which associ- 

 ate in elongated mats on the narrow rock ledges, for mutual 

 protection in this wind-swept cavity. 



The wiry stemmed Hypolcena fastigiata R. Br., is occa- 

 sional on the rocky hillside, but the larger tufts and their 

 greater frequency on the sandhills indicate its preferential 



