DAISIES AND EVERLASTINGS. 
49 
there are hundreds of species in Australia, and in 
Victoria we have considerably over two hundred. 
Sometimes they are tall trees, sometimes fine sturdy 
shrubs, and often they are low-spreading herbs. There 
are only two Composites that here assume the form 
of trees: one is the musk-leaf or musk tree, botani- 
cally known as Olearia argophyUa, and sometimes 
called by botanists Aster argophyllus; the other is 
the blanket-leaf tree, known as Bedfordia salicina. 
These are two elegant trees, the backs of the leaves 
having a whitish covering. In the musk tree it is 
very close and does not appear prominently ; it gives 
the leaves a silvery appearance; but in the blanket- 
leaf tree the backs of the leaves are covered with 
thick, white, woolly-like hairs, giving the leaves a 
blanket-like appearance. On account of this hairy 
vestiture, these trees should not be grown where 
smoke or dust is prevalent. These would settle on 
the foliage, making the tree have a perpetual dirty 
appearance. They prefer coolness and shade, and a 
moist soil. 
The genera of this order that are, on the whole, 
the most attractive in appearance, are those which 
comprise the plants familiarly known as Everlast- 
ings, the genera names being Helichrysum and Helip- 
terum. The common yellow Everlasting, so much 
grown in gardens, is Helichrysum bracteatum. It is 
a native of every State of Australia. The original 
colour was yellow, but seed variations or sports have 
occurred, and now we have Everlastings of all shades 
and’colours. It will often be noticed that one plant, 
supposed to bear flowers of a certain colour, produces 
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