TOPOGRAPHICAL, ECOLOGICAL, AND TAXONOMIC NOTES. 335 



habitat. The station given for this species by the authors 



of the Handbook Fl. N. S. Wales, p. 443, is, "in wet 



sandy places." It is very common on the dry sandhills 

 between Port Jackson and Botany Bay and was not noted 

 in moist situations. The Blood-root, Hcemodorum plani- 

 folium R. Br., is also more plentiful on the dry sand hills 

 than on the exposed headland. Its rootstock is protected 

 by a highly coloured exudation which is responsible for the 

 vernacular name of the plant. Its bulbous base is deeply 

 embedded in the soil and acts as a reservoir, thougli the 

 pithy consistence of the stem, and the leathery texture of 

 the leaves, obviate the necessity for insistent demands 

 on the supplies conserved. 



Its congener H. teretifolium R. Br. does not so closely 

 approach the shoreline, and has less objection to a swampy 

 environment. The two species occasionally meet and inter- 

 mingle on the verge of a swamp, IT. planifolius ascending 

 the hillside, and its ally proceeding into the swamp. Both 

 are found as far south as Bateman's Bay, H. teretifolium 

 extends northerly to Byron Bay, and its congener continues 

 into Queensland. H. planifolium is plentifully distributed, 

 but its associate has only a sparse representation in widely 

 separated localities. 



The headland at Ben Buckler curves inland, descending 

 in a long slope to Bondi Beach. At the western end of the 

 beach a few tufts of the Marram Grass, Ammophila 

 arundinacea Host., were noted among the Spinifex, the 

 sole survivors of a large area planted with this introduced 

 grass. Owing to a combination of adverse circumstances, 

 this valuable sand-binder, with whose aid a large acreage 

 of dune has been reclaimed in Victoria, at Port Fairy and 

 elsewhere, vide "The Sand-drift Problem in New South 

 Wales," loc. eft., has not been successfully established in 

 this district. 



