TOPOGRAPHICAL, ECOLOGICAL, AND TAXONOMIC NOTES. 337 



The first Australasian record which I can find of this 

 species occurs in "Contributions to the Phytography of 

 Tasmania," by Baron von Mueller. 1 The author, p. 30, 



says, "It is remarkable that this conspicuous and 



singular plant should have been overlooked so long in Tas- 

 mania, where, from my own personal enquiry among the 

 local coast residents it seems to be indigenous, but it was 

 not before 1861 that the Cakile, became by my own inves- 

 tigations, discovered on the coast of the Australian main- 

 land." It is plentiful on air the beaches in Botany Bay, 

 and if it had been present (indigenous), at the time of the 

 landing of Captain Cook at Kurneli, it would hardly have 

 escaped the vigilance of the botanical members of the 

 expedition. 



A portion of the dune has been treated with ashes and 

 debris, and planted with common Couch, resulting in the 

 establishment of a lawn of several acres, which extends to 

 the verge of the strand embankment, here 3-4 feet high, 

 where it is protected by a band of Zoysia pungens. The 

 latter species occurs in the maritime sands of tropical 

 Eastern Asia and New Zealand. According to Cheesman 2 

 it ascends to 2,000 feet at Lake Taupo, and in Canterbury 

 and Otago. 



Several exotic weeds are established in the Couch lawn, 

 prominent among which is the aggressive Cape-weed, 

 Crytostemma calendulaceum R. Br. At a distance from 

 the strand the root system of this Composite is shallow, its 

 heavy rosette of basal leaves sufficing for the maintenance 

 of equilibrium and incidentally retaining the sand in its 

 vicinity. As the strand is approached, the harsher con- 

 ditions are indicated by the decreased luxuriance of the 

 foliage, the root system also responding by descending to a 

 greater depth. Several alien Chenopods thickly coated 



1 Proc. Roy. Soc. Tas., 1876, p. 29. 2 Manual PL N.Z., p. 8S4. 

 V— October 3. 1917. 



