TOPOGRAPHICAL, ECOLOGICAL, AND TAXONOMIC NOTES. 351 



a bush of Styphelia Richei, The slender weedy Apium 

 leptophyllum F.v.M., is occasional on the slope of the hill. 

 Though confined chiefly to the tropics, both in Africa and 

 America, it extends as far south as Victoria on the Aus- 

 tralian coast. The scantily tufted Andropogon refractus 

 R. Br., has here shown a considerable degree of plasticity, 

 the paucity of its stool alone indicating dissatisfaction with 

 the harsh environment, an extreme change from the tropical 

 jungle in which it obtains its optimum growth. 



In a swampy hollow on the headland facing the ocean, a 

 plant association occurs in which several species occupy 

 more or less strictly defined zones. On its border, in a 

 comparatively open shrubbery of Leptospermum Icevigatum, 

 several plants of the flaccid leaved Solanum vescum F.v.M., 

 a shade loving mesophyte, are established. This species 

 may be readily separated from its relative, S. aviculare 

 Forst., (with which it is united by Bentham, Fl. Austr., iv, 

 47) by its sessile decurrent leaves and green globular berries. 

 The leaves of S. aviculare taper into a petiole and are not 

 decurrent, the berries are ovoid and yellow. In this shady 

 grove the banks of the drainage channel supplying the 

 swamp are lined by the creeping (stoloniferous), Viola 

 hederacea Labill. 



In the open country the moist fringe of the swamp is 

 sparsely clothed by the prostrate Epaltes australis Less., 

 (whose presence is an indication of sour ill-drained land) 

 the limitation of its mat, and reduction of foliage as the 

 aquatic region is approached, denoting its disinclination for 

 further submergence. Entering the swamp a comparatively 

 level zone is met, occupied chiefly by rushes, in which the 

 close-tufted Restio complanatus R.Br., is well represented. 

 The Fringed Violet, Thysanotus junceus R.Br., is occas- 

 ional in this situation, but is better suited on the sandstone 

 hillsides. This species has a limited coastal range, the 



