PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



57 



Acacia OXYCEDE.US. Sieber. {alias A. taxifolia Loddiges.) A handsome bush from the 



southern parts of Australia. Mowers 

 in bright yellow spikes, appearing in 

 January and February. (Fig. 147.) 



Apparently a common plant in Van Die- 

 men's Land, and the south-eastern districts of 

 the Australian continent. Sir Thomas Mitchell 

 found it on Mount William in 1836 ; the Blue 

 Mountains are named by others, and Mr. Back- 

 house notices it among the Tasmannian plants 

 which struck him with their beauty. He speaks 

 of it as being in flower on the 7th of Septem- 

 ber, among the earliest indications of spring, 

 and again in April : — 



" On the 15th of the fourth month," lie 

 says, " we held a meeting with some sawyers, 

 in their huts, at a place called the King's Pits, 

 on the ascent of Mount Wellington, at an eleva- 

 tion of about 2000 feet, and about four miles 

 from the town. The forest among which they 

 are residing is very lofty : many of the trees 

 are clear of branches for upwards of 100 feet. 

 It caught fire a few months ago, and some of 

 the men narrowly escaped. The trees are 

 blackened to the top, but are beginning to 

 shoot again from their charred stems. The brushwood is very thick in some of these forests. A shower of snow fell 

 while we were at the place. Acacia oxycedrus, ten feet high, was in flower on the ascent of the mountain. This, along 

 with numerous shrubs of other kinds, formed impervious thickets in some places ; while, in others, Epacris impressa 

 displayed its brilliant blossoms of crimson and of rose-colour." 



In cultivation it forms a stout shrub, with hard, sti . 

 bright green phyllodes, having three strong ribs terminating 

 in a fine point. In form these phyllodes are variable, 

 sometimes being narrowly ovate- lanceolate, and somewhat 

 falcate, or even linear, or so short and broad as to be almost 

 ovate ; A. mcesta of the Botanical Register may even be a 

 peculiarly broad variety. From A . verticillaia the Oxycedrus 

 is distinguished by its phyllodes having three or four distinct 

 stout rilis, and not being whorled, its much stouter and 

 more erect habit, and its larger and finer flower spikes. 



Acacia diffusa. Ker. (alias A. pros- 

 tata Loddiges.) A handsome leguminous bush, 

 from Van Diem en's Land, with numerous balls of 

 bright yellow flowers appearing: in midwinter. 

 Tig. 148.) 



Although this has naturally a trailing mode of growth, 

 yet it readily lends itself to the art of the gardener, and, by 

 a little management, will assume the form of a close com- 

 pact bush. It is extremely common in Van Diemen's Land ; 

 varying greatly in the size and shape of the phyllodes (leaves), 

 and in the length of the flower-stalks, which are sometimes 

 nearly sessile, and sometimes on long stalks as in our figure. 

 The phyllodes have a single rib, running from end to end, 

 and terminating in a hard spine ; and, near their base, 



often appears a small oval gland, but this is frequently missing. When dry or old the phyllodes seem to have several 

 veins lying irregularly by the side of the midrib ; but in reality this appearance is produced by the shrinking of the 

 parenchyma, and the seeming veins are merely wrinkles. Although there is no difference whatever between the Acacia 



