The South Australian Naturalist. 
ci 
THE PLANTS OF THE ENCOUNTER BAY DISTRIPTlt 
By J. B. Cleland, M.D. / 
NOTES ON THE ECOLOGY. (Continued*) i :: 
I. Marine — Sea Meadows. »p 
Between Victor Harbour and the Bluff low tides expose in W 
places extensive patches of a low limestone rock of recent forma^ 
tion which tends to form cup-shaped depressions a foot or more 
in diameter with rather jagged crater-like rims. They form ^ 
algae-covered shelves as the deeper water is approached. Amongst)* 
these Zostera grows, often exposed and dried by the low tides.^^^' 
In the deeper pools Cymodocea of two species is found. Thecom-fe 
moner of these, C. antarctxca, is readily recognised by the distich- ' 
ous leaves being shorter and distinctly twisted or curled. The* 
other species is C. Griffithsi which Mr. J. M. Black described in -ils 
1915 but tvhich, after submission to Ostenfeld, he suppressed'in^f 
his Flora. In the field — or rather the sea — there is no doubt of 
the occurrence of two quite distinct species. They may befoundjiii 
side by side and each is easily recognised. In C. Grifjithsi the^l 
leaves are rather longer and show no evidence of a twist but are |icc 
quite straight, whilst the sheathing base differs from that of C. 
antarctica. In deeper water still, Posidonia australis may be sei 
found but not here luxuriating. On a sandy beach, into which 
a small creek enters and which is directly opposite West Island, m 
fruits of Posidonia have been collected in abundance in January |ji 
of different years. A small reef lies off this beach from which 
they possibly came. Mixed with the usual broader leaves, so)io 
common as banks of ‘sea-weed’ along our shores, are numbers of " 
others with a diameter much less. Possibly we possess twojlii 
species of Posidonia. If 
III Littoral and Coastal Sandhills. p 
The most advanced plants seen, those approaching the beach j 
and barely beyond an exceptionally high tide, were Spinifex kir- 
sutus, Sporobolus virginicus, Distichlis spicata, Lagurus 
Salsola kaliy Atriplex paludosum, Plantago coronopus and Datura 
stramonium. Numbers of the last named plant grow amongst the 4 
litter of the strand above high-water mark towards the Bluff. 
In the narrow fringe internal to this, forming the bank overhang- ; 
ing the strand, may be found in addition Marram Grass, 
maximus, Rhagodia baccata, Mesembrianthemum aequilatetit,i 
Melilotus indica, the two Oenotheras , Senecio lautus, Helichrysun‘ : 
cinereum and Hypochaeris radicata. The dominant plants of the 
sand-dunes are Spinijex hir sutus (especially on the looser sand), [si 
Lagurus ovatv.s, Distichlis spicata, Scirpus nodostis and Lepiio^' n 
perma gladiatum. The Lagurus (Hare’s Tail Grass) is widely ■ 
dispersed but the other plants tend to grow in communities. ^ 
^Vide. Vol VII, No. 2, Feb. 1926, p. 51. ^ 
