ON THE FLORA OF AUSTRALIA. 



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recommended, being always more or less acid ; and this intro- 

 duction of sulphuric acid into soils poor in lime would certainly 

 be hurtful to growing plants. 



Potash. — Rich horticultural soils contain a considerable 

 proportion of potash, which becomes only slowly available for 

 vegetation. For certain cultures — more especially that of ferns, 

 palms, vines, roses, potatos, &c. — potash manures have a very 

 beneficial effect when applied to leaf-mould composts. The most 

 rational mode of application is to use carbonate of potash, one of 

 the chief ingredients in wood ashes ; kainit salt, sulphate of 

 potash, or muriate of potash may also be used. Potash is 

 retained by the soil, and plants are able to absorb it as they need. 

 The proportion to be used must vary according to the require- 

 ments of the plants cultivated. 



ON THE FLORA OF AUSTRALIA. 



By G. H. Adcock, F.L.S., F.R.H.S. 



I have often tried to imagine what must have been the feelings 

 of Mr. (after Sir Joseph) Banks and his companion, Dr. 

 Solander, as they — the first scientific investigators of living 

 Australian plants — gazed on the enchanting beauty and rich 

 floral profusion which aptly suggested the name " Botany 

 Bay." Fancy an enthusiastic botanist in the present day find- 

 ing himself in a new land with a flora so unlike that of any 

 other. 



In attempting even a sketch of our splendid flora at the 

 request of the ever-courteous Secretary of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society, it is with the consciousness that the subject 

 requires an abler pen than mine to do it anything like the 

 justice to which it is entitled. 



In the " Second Systematic Census of Australian Plants," 

 published in 1889, my esteemed friend the late Baron von 

 Mueller included among the Vasculares 8,839 indigenous species. 

 Of these he gives 7,501 as endemic to continental Australia and 

 Tasmania ; so that in round numbers 85 per cent, of our plants 

 are exclusively Australian. The area is, roughly speaking, about 

 3,000,000 square miles, much of it presenting almost insuperable 



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