October, 1929 
53 - 
The Queensland Naturalist 
Palm Sunday. The coconut palms comparatively recently 
planted along the coast of Great Palm Island, and scat- 
tered plants and groves of Ancliontophoenix Aiexandrae 
on the mountains are the only true palms on the islands 
in any considerable number, except the lawyer vines. 
Pound settlements a few ornamental species, particu- 
larly Phoenix canariensis, are now cultivated. 
The Formations. 
The islands of the Palm Group are continental, and 
their flora is similar to that of the mainland. Oceanic 
islands depend on transmarine immigration and, conse- 
quently, have a poorly developed flora. Masthead Island, 
one of the Capricorn Group, is one example. Its flora 
has been described by Longman, who records a total of 
twenty-six species there. Of these only four — Euphorbia 
eremo'phiia, Ficus opposita, Pandanus pedunculatus, and 
Castanospermum australe — are endemic to Australia. The 
last named was represented by one fruit only. 
The same factors of marine, avian, and aeolian trans- 
portation which operate in the phytocolonization of a cay 
operate in the cause of a continental island, and it is to 
be expected therefore that on them will be found the same 
species as occur on oceanic islands in the same general 
region, Such is the case, and colonists of coral islands 
such as Tournefortea argentea, Scaevola Koenigii, lioer 
haavia diffusa, Ipomoea pes-caprae, Casuarina equiseti- 
folia, and Canavalia obtusifolia, are common along the 
shores of Great Palm Island. The flora is, however, 
mainly of the type found under similar conditions on the 
adjacent mainland. The rocks of the area are granites 
similar to those of the Townsville area. Aplite and peg- 
matite veins are common, and dykes of less acidic rock 
are occasionally met with. These latter, however, are 
not of sufficient size to cause any modification of the 
flora. 
As Great Palm Island is approached from the western 
side from the sea the bands of dark Malayan vegetation 
running down the mountain side are very suggestive of 
a local development on a dyke, particularly as the same 
bands are found on the smaller islands, and in the case 
of the strip on Eclipse Island, appear continuous. These 
bands do not correspond with any alteration in the com- 
position of the rock, but are confined to the gullies where 
moisture conditions are more suitable to mesophvtic or 
hydrophytic vegetation. Eclipse Island, which is only 
206 feet at its highest point, is wind-swept, and the trees 
