346 



A. A. HAMILTON. 



On the strand a few small tufts of Festuca littoralis are 

 sprinkled, and immediately below the embankment a large 

 hummock 4x3 yards, has been raised and completely 

 clothed by this grass. On the sandy bank which curves 

 towards the headland south of the beach, an alien from 

 South Africa, Tetragonia nigrescens E. et Z. var. marltima 

 Sond., is established a few feet above high- water mark. 1 

 It is a maritime member of the Fam. Aizoacese, and has 

 the heavy succulent limbs and foliage, and the low spreading 

 growth characteristic of the family, most of whose members 

 are residents of the beach, estuary, or salt-marsh, and 

 include the well known New Zealand Spinach. The wings 

 of the fruit calyx are composed of a felt-like material, 

 eminently fitted to act as a lifebuoy to the capsule, and 

 protect it from injury consequent on violent impact with a 

 reef or other solid obstruction, against which it is liable to 

 be flung by the waves when journeying along the sea-board. 

 The new comer will be a welcome addition to the dune flora 

 in the capacity of a sandbinder. 



On the headland running south to Long Bay, the shrubby 

 Notelcea longifolia Vent., which in suitable situations 

 reaches a height of ten to twelve feet, is barely two feet 

 high, and has exceptionally large leaves. Several grasses 

 are dotted on the hillside. The robust Stipa semibarbata 

 R. Br., its elongated plume-like panicle nodding with the 

 weight of the grain surmounted by a heavy awn ; Danthonia 

 penicillata F.v.M., a widely diffused and variable species,, 

 both edaphically and climatically adaptable; and Panicum 

 bieolor R. Br., a smaller tufted grass, less plentiful, and 

 with a more restricted range, are all present. 



Goodenia ovata Sm. has formed a series of clumps on soil 

 deposits in the bed of the stream winding through the dune 

 from the foot hills to the strand at Long Bay. The sterna 



1 Proc. Lino. Soc. N. S. Wales, Vol. xlii, p. 247. 



