August, 1938 The Queensland Naturalist 
107 
On the coastal dunes the usual strand flora of our 
southern beaches is to be found. Most of the species are 
long-creeping plants and many are widely spread in 
tropical and sub-tropical regions in similar situations. The 
outstanding plants at Coolum are Ipomoea pes-caprae 
(goat’s foot convolvulus), with its flimsy pinkish-lilac 
flowers, Oenothera Drummondii , with its beautiful though 
delicate lemon-yellow flowers, the less conspicuous Lippia 
nodiflora, the less distinctly creeping Mesembrianthemum 
aequilaterale (pig-face) with its thick, fleshy, tapering, 
tliree-edged leaves and deep pink flowers, the three 
grasses, Spinifex inermis, Sporobolus virginicus, and 
Zoisia macrantha (coastal couch) and the sedges Car ex 
pumila and S\cirpus nodosus. . The last differs from the 
other plants in being densely tufted and rush-like, 1-2 feet 
high. It is much more characteristic of the southern 
states, and this is the most northerly locality yet recorded 
for it. Hibbertia volubilis and Stephania hernandiae folia 
also occur. The Spinifex and the Ipomoea are the first 
plants to colonise the dunes. They bind the sand, making 
it more stable, and then other plants follow. On the top 
and towards the landward side, on the most stable parts 
of the dunes, the sparsely-foliaged tree, Casuarina egvAseti- 
folia var. incana (costal she-oak), is common with its long 
pendulous somewhat glaucous slender branchlets with 
their whorls of minute scale-leaves (figs. J and 4). 
South of the township, where the sandy beaches of 
the little bays meet the masses of boulders at the foot of 
the cliffs, the Ipomoea persists in places, and occasionally 
the creeping grass, Lepturus repens , was seen scrambling 
over the rocks. Though characteristically a tropical 
species this grass is to be found on islands in Moreton Bay, 
in the latitude of Brisbane. Most interesting, however, 
was the discovery of a small society of the convolvulaceous 
plant, Calystegia Soldanella, on and between the boulders. 
On the rocks between tide-levels is a rich growth of 
seaweeds. While the majority of these are Brown Algae 
( Phaeophyceae ) the beautiful pale-green sea-lettuce {Viva 
sp.), nearly covered some of the rock slabs. A rich and 
interesting field awaits any one who will take up the 
study of this (for Queensland) poorly known group of 
plants. 
Above high-water mark the cliffs carry more or less 
scattered small trees of Pandanus pedunculatus (pan- 
danus, or sometimes wrongly called “bread-fruit”), with 
its characteristic stilt-roots, and the equally familiar 
Banksia integrifolia (honeysuckle). A low, dense, spread- 
ing, shrubby form of Myoporum acuminatum is fairly 
