SOME NATIVE SHRUBS. 
107 
the legumes. The genus is commonly known by 
the name of “rice flowers.” The bark of all the 
twenty-one species is tough, but the bark of the Pime- 
lea axiflora is especially so. It is frequently used 
for tying up parcels and btmches of flowers, while 
in emergencies it has been used for boot laces: so 
that in one Victorian district it is known as the boot- 
lace bush. The flowers of this species are borne in 
crowded clusters in the axils or angles of the leaf 
stem, and from that occurrence it takes its generic 
name. Most of the Pimeleas have their flowers 
crowded in heads like a daisy, some large and some 
small. The Victorian species are all white, cream, 
or yellow coloured, but some species from West Aus- 
tralia are beautifully rose pink in colour. Pimelea 
ligustrina is perhaps the most decorative species, 
growing almost as a shrub, with flne white flower 
heads and bold foliage. Some of the dwarfer species 
are common as ground herb-like plants, in almost 
every district of the State, and all are sweetly 
scented. Pimelea octophylla is a dwarf form with 
white flowers and with very downy foliage, while the 
species strieta and curviflora are very pretty herba- 
ceous low-growing plants. 
Capparis Mitchelli, the tree Caper, is not common 
in Victoria, occurring only in the north-west: but it 
is weU known in the warmer States. The flowers are 
large and conspicuous, white, and with long and 
many stamens. The fruit is often as large as a 
passion fruit, rough on the outside, and quite edible 
and palatable. The seedlings and young plants are 
usually very spinous, more or less weak stemmed and 
