Charles Austin Oardn'er. 
tiiiguisliable oxcojjt when in flower. The most iiotowortliy examples are 
to })(' found in Hfbberlia microphylla and Leucopogon gibbofiits, between 
Avavi(( and J/akea, or Acacia and Oreinllea. 
Finally na^ntion sliould be made of the taller jdants whieh occur in 
thicket formation between the sand-lieath and the sclerophyllous woodland. 
As a nik? the two formations an' se[3ai‘ated by a transitional zone in which 
tiu' me.lle(' Kncaljiptv.s takes an important part, or else there may be a close 
stand of Melaleuca^ especially d/. ^mvinaUt. 'Phis latter species cannot be 
said to 1)(‘ typical of any distinctive formation. It may occur fairly ex- 
tensiv(‘Iy in tlu' granite soils, es[)eeially in areas when' the granite has been 
kaolinized : it may sej;ara-te the heatli from the formations of [)sammophyti(‘; 
halojiliytes, or it may stand as a buffer b('tween the woodland and the heath, 
wlu'u its cliaracb'r clianges according to the nature of tlie soil. Typically 
the iK'ath mergc's into a band of dwarf Melaleaca which receives here aiul 
th(T(' a ft'w j)sammo|)hilotis siiecies of Fiicalyptus ; gradually the malices 
become more prevalent, until finally from an association of mallees we pass 
into the open woodland. 
3. THE EREMEAN PROVINCE. 
Th(' Krcmean Province is, floristically and ecologically, the most im- 
poverished of the tliree provinces. Possessing no distinctive elements of 
its own. its flora is deriv('d from elements of the neighbouring provinces, 
chiefly from those groups sufficiently plastic to permit of epharinonic moulding. 
It is thus a comj)aratively young flora in which the outstanding characteristics, 
a marked evolutionary epharinonic convergence, has been made possible hy 
the plastic nature of the indigenous species and their capacity to adapt them- 
selves to a changcxl environrnc'nt. Its permanent elements are those sclero- 
phyllous species which have to fight for existence against a hostile environ- 
ment. wliile its herbaceous elements are either ephemeral, or markedly xero- 
phytic in structure. 
Jn its evolution the whole constitution of the Eremean flora is a picture 
of acti\’e epharmosis, resulting in an area of remarkable uniformity of contour 
and form which is in keeping with its climate. It extends in a practically 
unchanged condition from the north-west coast to the Da.i'ling River, and 
almost to the south coast, with but little change in its floristic composition, 
and its formations are edaphic. rather than climatic, for climatically it is 
only the increasing aridity exiR'riencetl as wo travel towards the arid lu'art 
of tlu' continent that affects to any extent the density and stature of its com- 
poiK'nt species. 
An interc'sting feature of the Eremea is the part played by tlie psammo- 
phytcs. Wherever the soil is sandy we find a return of the autochthonous 
flora of the south-M’est, or at least its hardy psammophilous representatives. 
This peculiai’ity (;an be studied in various localities. In the iH'd sand of the 
Anketell district we find an “ island ” of south-w(>stcrn forms — -Labicheay 
Thryptotncnc. Crypiandray Calythrix, OastTolohiumy Brachyscma. PityrodiUy 
Loudonia, Monotaxis, Eriosiemon, and Xanthorrhoca, etc. The same thing 
applic's at Comc>t Vale, where the Mulga country impinges on the heath ; 
here are certain localised erukmiics, including ci'rtain Myrtaceous jilants of 
the Tribe t^hamaelauciae, with Newcastlia and Lachnostachys. Even in the 
north, between the Eortescue aiul Ashburton rivers wo find Verticordia grayidis, 
Pileanihus, Pityrodia, Calothamnus, Comnicrsonia, Diplopeltis, Adriana, and 
Calythrix, while Cyaiiostegia extends to Roebuck Ikiy. These isolated areas 
of sand in v'hich the autochthonous flora is predominant, forming as it were 
outposts of the south-western flora, suggest that it is in these place's tliat the 
I 
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