60 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
March, 1935. 
which is a collection of dried plants. In the Queensland 
Herbarium of the Department of Agriculture and Stock 
an endeavour is made to have represented at least one 
dried specimen of every plant growing in Australia. In 
addition to that, of course, there are great numbers of 
foreign plants from abroad. In the case of Queensland 
plants, especially those likely to be of some economic im- 
portance, ten, twenty, or even more specimens may be 
kept to show the plant’s range within the State and the 
variations it exhibits at different stages of growth and in 
different localities. 
If the material is more complete or at least bears 
leaves and flowers, the usual method when working the 
plant out if one is unfamiliar with it is to use a key. The 
key can either be what is known as a natural one or an 
artificial one. An example of a natural one is that in 
Bailey’s account of the Orchids in his “Queensland 
Flora,” but it has the disadvantage very often of being 
very difficult to use; therefore in most cases resource is 
made to an artificial one. The disadvantage of an arti- 
ficial key is that one may get two species in the one genus 
very widely separated in it, genera that are closely allied, 
widely separated, and genera that are in no way related 
close to one another. This, however, is no great disadvan- 
tage as the key can be followed by the arrangement of the 
genera and species in a natural one, or at any rate what 
we consider a natural one. To give an illustration of an 
artificial key, this morning I spent about an hour in mak- 
ing up the following commencement of a key to Queens- 
land Orchid genera. 
1. Plants terrestrial 2 
Plants epiphytic (i.e., growing on trees or rocks, 
not in soil) 
2. Plants leafless 3 
Plants with Leaves 8 
3. Plants tall climbing Galeola 
Plants not climbing 4 
4. Inflorescence nodding Epipogum 
Infloresence Upright . . 5 
5. Sepals and petals united in a 
cup or tube . : Gastrodia 
Sepals and petals free from each other, not 
united 6 
6. Flowers reversed (small — under 
\ inch across) Prasophyllum 
Flowers not reversed, comparatively large d 
inch or more across 7 
