SKETCH OF THE VEGETATION OF AUSTRALIA. 
207 
Eucalyptus, which, under various names, are 
well known to the natives and colonists, and 
are of considerable value, not only for timber, 
but various other useful products. Thus, a 
gum very similar in properties to gum arable 
is produced by the Silver Wattle {Acacia 
niollissima), a shrub about eight feet high, 
with pinnate leaves, and the copious yellow 
flowers collected in globose heads ; also by 
Acacia decurrens, a beautiful shrub, very like 
the last ; and also by the Black Wattle {A. 
ajjinis), a plant of similar stature to the 
others, but with shortened flattened leaf- 
stalks instead of leaves, and heads of yellow 
flowers. This gum forms a material article 
of diet to the natives at certain seasons, and 
is also collected by the colonists. The bark 
of these and other acacias also yields great 
quantities of a tanning principle much stronger 
in its operation on leather than oak bark, which 
has been imported into England in some quan- 
tities in the form of an extract, procured by 
boiling down the bark. Other sorts of wat- 
tles, as the acacias are generally called in New 
Holland, are among the handsomest of shrubs 
— as A. j)ubescens, which has a light feathery 
pinnate foliage, slender, rather drooping 
habit, and produces a great profusion of 
spikes of golden-coloured flowers, arranged 
in little balls ; A. oxycedrus, also growing to 
about ten feet high, with an upright rigid 
habit, sharp spiny leaf-stalks or phyllodia, 
and dense spikes of rich yellow flowers. 
Besides very large and heavy timber, the 
different species of Eucalypti, which vary 
from small bushes to more than a hundred 
feet in height, produce some other substances 
of considerable utility. Thus the gum-tree 
{E. robusta) secretes in cavities between the 
annual growth of the wood a rich vermilion- 
coloured gum, and the ironbark (E. resvni- 
fera), an astringent subresinous substance 
resembling gum kino ; E. manifera produces 
in the dry season a saccharine substance 
similar to manna in action and appearance, 
which is eagerly sought after as an article of 
food by the natives. Other plants of this 
family yield a large supply of tannin, which 
has been extracted in the same way as that 
of the acacias, and has found a ready sale in 
the English market. 
Eucalypti are stated to form four-fifths of 
the Australian forests. These plants are re- 
markable for the vertical instead of horizontal 
direction of their leaves, which are generally 
in pairs opposite one another on young plants, 
but becoming scattered and alternate as the 
plant grows older ; and the form is generally 
so much changed that an old and a young 
plant of the same species would hardly be 
taken for such. 
Other useful plants of the same natural 
order (Myrtaceje) as the last, are those called 
by the colonists Tea-trees, being various 
species of Leptosjjermuvi and Melaleuca, 
which, as their local name indicates, are used 
as substitutes for tea. The first-named, as 
the common tea-tree (i. scopa7'ium), and 
many others — more than thirty species being 
known in New South Vf ales alone — are 
generally noted for their neat bushy growth, 
small rigid leaves, and numerous pure white 
flowers. The Melaleucas are also handsome 
shrubs, with opposite or alternate leaves, and 
frequently purple or scarlet flowers, arranged 
in spikes similar in appearance to a bottle- 
brush. A great number of species are known. 
Many other beautiful shrubs belonging to 
this natural order are scattered in profusion 
all over the country, among which Ca Hist einon 
lanceolatus,' with its lance-shaped leaves and 
spikes of deep crimson flowers, and Beau- 
furtia decussata, with dense dark green foli- 
age, and flowers of a deeper crimson than the 
last, have long been inhabitants of the con- 
servatories of this country. 
Plants of the natural order Epacridacege 
form a large portion of the scrub and under- 
wood in New South Wales, occupying to a 
great degree the place of the Heaths of the 
Cape of Grood Hope and other countries. 
Epacris grandiflora, forming a dense shrub 
with rigid heart-shaped leaves and numerous 
axillary tubular crimson flowers with white 
mouth, and E. ivijoressa with a more rigid 
habit, sharp lance-shaped leaves and rosy 
tubular flowers, produced in great profusion, 
are favourites long ago introduced into this 
country. 
But one of the most numerous as well as 
singular groups of plants, tending particularly 
to give an appearance so different from the 
vegetation of Europe, are the Proteacese, 
often growing socially together, adorning 
large tracts of country with their singular 
forms and generally showy flowers. The 
species seem in general confined to rather 
narrow localities, none of those growing near 
Sydney or on the east coast being known on 
the west coast. Of this family the Waratah 
(Telofea speciosisnmd) has been long in cul- 
tivation on account of its stately growth, fine 
large leaves, and splendid cones of deep crim- 
son flowers. Banhsia latifolia forms a tree 
thirty feet high, with broad leathery leaves, 
and heads of greenish flowers. B. grandis 
forms a bush two or three feet high, with 
large coriaceous toothed leaves and large 
conical heads of yellow flowers. JDryandva 
floribunda forms a compact bush, with stiff 
toothed leaves, the branches terminating in 
heads of yellow flowers. 
In even greater numbers than any of the 
previous named groups appear the papiliona- 
