16 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
July, 1921 
chloroplasts, either leucoplasts or chromoplasts are de- 
veloped, according to whether the variegation consists of 
white or coloured marks; but the actual cause of varie- 
gation is not known. Variegated forms are much sought 
after by gardeners, and, where possible, perpetuated by 
them for horticultural purposes. In this way have arisen 
the many variegated forms of Codiaeums or Crotons, 
Coleuses, Amaranths, Acalyphas, etc., common in garden 
culture. 
FRUIT OF CARISSA OVATA , R.Br. 
A common shrub on the edges of “scrubs” (rain 
forests) and on better soils about Brisbane is Carissa 
ovata , a member of the family Apocvnaceae. In Bentham's 
“Flora Australiensis” and in Bailey’s “Queensland 
Flora” the fruit is described as “usually 1-seeded.” I 
have examined numbers of them, however, and found 
them to be usually 6-8 seeded. The following amended 
description is accordingly offered: — 
Fruit blackish-purple, fleshy, edible, ovoid or 
ellipsoid, about -Jin. long, 6-8 seeded, seeds brown, flat, 
irregularly triangular, 3 lines long, 2 lines broad, placed 
3-4 on each side of a somewhat central, fleshy placenta. 
FURTHER NOTES ON TECOMA HILLII. 
Since my article on this climber appeared in the 
October number of the Queensland Naturalist , Mr. W. 
R. Petrie has supplied the following additional informa- 
tion : — 
“It is somewhat remarkable that the plant was not 
rediscovered during the interval between 1876 and 1914, 
seeing that it is rather common along the banks of creeks 
on Fraser Island. Still, I have found it to be by no 
means conspicuous, never having had the luck to find it 
in open sunlight, as Mr. Turner evidently did, in which 
position it could be expected to flower to greater 
advantage. The first time I saw the flower was in 1914 
about six miles up Bogimba Creek, Fraser Island. My 
son Tom and I were in a dense patch ofj scrub on the 
creek bank when he picked up a loose flower on the 
ground. I knew that none of the trees present was 
responsible for the beautiful flower, so began an inspec- 
tion of the vines, and soon located the correct one. Later, 
I found it on Wungoolba Creek, and near my first camp 
on the island (Dipu-yuing) at a spot practically at the 
junction of the scrub with the forest, and, as usual, with 
its roots practically in the water.” 
