May, 1932. 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
25 
of the open forest, though here it is rather sparsely scat- 
tered and of smaller size, attaining the rank of a second 
story tree only. It has a fairly wide range in the lowland 
formations, being found also along the rocky shores asso- 
ciated with Pandanus on the fringe of open forest. It 
reaches its greatest dimensions and maximum development 
in the fresh and brackish swamps where it is dominant, 
remaining a large tree along the rocky shore, but losing its 
importance and some of its size when it comes into com- 
petition with the Eucalypts in the open forest. 
The Flora of the Strand. 
The rocky headlands and abrupt cliffs which form a 
considerable part of the shore line of Great Palm Island 
are not favourable to the development of a typical strand 
flora. The rocks above high tide mark are frequently en- 
crusted with lichen, mostly crust aceous, but occasionally 
specimens of Usnea are met with. Hoya australis sprawls 
over the boulders, and the brown-flowered orchid Dendro- 
bium. undulatum is very common. Occasionally D. tereti- 
folium, the pencil orchid, is seen, though this is more com- 
mon f urther inland on rocks and tree trunks. These plants, 
with Lygodium scandens, a climbing fern, form the outer 
fringe of the land vegetation of the rocky shores. Behind 
them are found small trees — Pandanus pedunculatus and 
Homalanthus populifolius. In drier situations these trees 
ascend the hill-sides, and soon are found interspersed with 
Eucalyptus tereticornis, E. corymbosa, E. tesselaris, E. 
alba, Albizzia procera, Macaranga tanarius, Cochlosper- 
mum Gillivraei, and other open forest types. Gradually 
the Pandanus disappears ; 1 the Cochlospermum, never 
abundant, is no longer found, and forest of the ordinary 
Eucalyptus formations is found. 
Along the drier sandy belts, which are found best 
developed on the western side of the island, an open for- 
mation of a different type from that of the rocks occurs. 
This is the typical strand formation of the islands. A few 
creeping plants extend to the high tide mark. The two 
plants which advance farthest are Remirea maritima var. 
pedunculata, and Ipomoea pes-caprae. The former pushes 
a little ahead of the latter, its underground runners per- 
haps giving it a slight advantage, over its competitor. The 
seaward edge of the caprae formation is sparsely covered, 
large areas of bare sand existing between the individual 
plants. A little distance behind the high tide mark, how- 
ever, the plants grow closer, and the sand is almost cov- 
ered by the canopy of leaves of the Ipomoea. In some 
areas, however, the parasite Cassytha filiformis attacks this 
