36 
The South Australian Naturalist 
For the Mt. Lofty Range in general Osbora(3) records this 
gum occurring on ''soils formed from slates, phyllites, schists and 
limestones of the Cambrian series which lie within the region ol 
35-35 inch annual rainfall. The soils vary considerably in com- 
position but arc all relatively deep and fine-grained, not sandy.” 
'[’he yellow gum country has c|uite distinct typographical features, 
the hills being of a rounded nature and much less steep and rug- 
ged than the quartzite formations which border on it. This 
difference is strikingly illustrated near Slape^s Gully, where the 
quartzite formation is composed of a broken surface of rocks and 
rubble bearing stunted pink gum and masses of undershrubs while 
on the rounded hills of clay-slates grow large trees of the yellow 
and red gum with an undergrowth mainly of grasses. 
IV ASSOCIATIONS. 
Some botanical associations have been noted at Belair in the 
National Park commencing near the Railway Station and pro- 
ceeding in an easterly drection. The yellow gum appears at a 
height of 1,000 feet and is associated with the peppermint [E. 
odorata) and the red gum as the main tree growth. The individ- 
uals of this species do not grow closely together and in fact they 
are many yards apart. The tree has a decided spreading habit 
and gives fairly dense shade. The shrubs growing with this 
gum are not many in number and there is much open space be- 
tween the plants. I'he ground flora is more dense as there is a 
good proportion of annuals amongst It. This sparseness in vege- 
tation here may be due to the poorness of the soil or to the 
excessive shading, chiefly by the yellow gum. In strong contrast 
is the dense vegetation in the stringybark forest, higher in the 
range, where the white stringyTark is surrounded to the base 
of the tree by numerous shrubs and undershrubs, a great contrast 
to the complete absence of shrubs around or near the yellow 
gum trees and the open spaces in this formation. 
Other large plants are Acacia pycnantha, Bursaria spinosa, 
Dodonaea viscosa. Acacia obliqua, Leptospermum myrsinoides, 
Calythrix tetragona, Casuarina stricta, Xanthorrhoea semiplana 
and Hakea rostrata. Although these are large plants they do 
not dominate any area, but occur only as scattered individuals 
among the yellow gums. The following smaller plants are also 
but sparsely distributed: — Olearia ramulosa, Hihbertia stricta, 
Pidtenaea pedunculata, Helichrysum Baxteri, Thelymitra grandi- 
ilora, T. longifolia, Pterostylis barbata, P. nana, P. reflexa, P. 
longifolia and Corysanthes pruinosa. The “Kangaroo grass” 
{Thevieda australis) is fairly abundant in protected areas. 
(3) Trans. Roy. Soc., S.A., Vol. 48 1924), p. 110. 
