NATIVE FLORA OF TROPICAL QUEENSLAND. 403 



'CoNiFERiE : Callitris columnellaris F.v.M. (Pine, 20 feet high). 



ORCHIDACE.E : Cymbidium sp. 



ELemodorace^e : Hcemodorum planifolium R. Br. 1 (Red-root). 



Pandanace^e : Pandanus aquations. 1 ' 



Trees of Cochlospermum Gillivrc&i (Native Cotton) grow 

 to a height of twenty to twenty-five feet, and appear to 

 prefer rocky elevations. They are deciduous, and were 

 leafless in August or while in bloom. They become covered 

 with bright yellow flowers about two inches across, which 

 give the trees a very attractive appearance. The presence 

 of a woolly substance inside the large pod-like seed vessels 

 has caused the plant to be often referred to as Native Cotton. 



Sterculia Blclwilli was seen occupying rocky granite 

 elevations with the last named species, the trees being about 

 fifteen feet high and deciduous. In August, trees of this 

 species were leafless, and coming into bloom, the flowers 

 being more than an inch long, and nearly an inch across, 

 bell-shaped and red. 



Greivia polygama grows as a small shrub and extends to 

 the East Indies. It belongs to a genus widely spread over 

 the tropics. The small two-lobed fruits of this species are 

 sometimes called Jelly-boys in Queensland, and in addition 

 to being regarded by some people as edible, are considered 

 to have distinct medicinal qualities especially in cases of 

 dysentery. Leichhardt records that in June 1845 when 

 below the junction of the Lynd and Mitchell Rivers, or 

 about one hundred and twenty miles north-west of Alma- 

 den, he used the seeds of a species of Grewia in making a 

 beverage, and writes: — "I gathered as many as I could, 

 and boiled them for about an hour, the beverage which 

 they produced was at all events the best we had tasted on 

 our expedition." (Op. cit., p. 295.) 



Erythrina vesperbilio, a Coral tree, was noticed on rocky 

 hills. These trees, which were about twenty feet high, 



