14 
The Queensland Naturalist May, 1946 
entrusted to her. Dr. Lam spent practically the whole 
of 1!120 in Dutch New Guinea as botanist to the Mam- 
berano Expedition. The Mamberano, one of several 
mighty rivers in New Guinea, has a length of 900 miles 
and drains an enormous area of country. One outstand- 
ing feature of this northern river is that the tide rarely 
if ever finds its way into the mouth, with the result that 
there are no extensive mangrove forests there such as we 
are familiar with in the est.a urine water of the Fly, 
Purari and other rivers of the south coast of the Austra- 
lian Territory of Papua. It is doubtful if more exten- 
sive mangrove forests than these exist anywhere. Nipa 
palm which fringes the salt water banks for miles along 
the southern rivers is also absent on the lower Maiu- 
berano. The land is marshy and sago palms are in evi- 
dence, indicating fresh water. Further up the river, 
extensive gelagah — better known to residents of the 
Australian side as pit-pit ( Saccharum spontaneum) flats 
are seen. In some places the pit-pit is replaced by the 
common tropical reed (Phi'ogiHitc . s Karlio). The seeds of 
both are superficially alike, but the two can easily be told 
by the stems, those of the pit-pit being solid, those of the 
reed hollow. 
As along most Papuan rivers Ihe fringing forest is a 
monotonous green, but is lit up here and there with the 
bright red flowers of a Mucuna; the members of this genus 
are universally known in Papua and the Mandated Terri- 
tory as D Albertis creepers. Not all, however, bear red 
flowers; some are of a rather pale green. 
High up the river, .just below the foothills of the Main 
Central Range, is a low-lying marshy basin — the Meer- 
vlakte— approximately 200 miles long' and 40 miles wide, 
covered with reeds and other marsh-loving plants. Between 
Ihe river and the marsh— lands is ; fringing' belt of forest. 
The trees, like mangroves, show a special adaptation to the 
wet conditions under which they live, particularly the 
Pool relation of the soil. Respiratory roots were observed 
1 oi Ihe fiist lime m a rattan ft tilo )tt u s so.) 35 feet or more 
above ground level The waroe ( Hibiscus iiliaccm ), 
known throughout the Pacific as probably the main source 
of native cordage, is abundant here and is remarkable for 
the production of aerial roots from the trunk and main 
branches. These are lacking in the tree in the drier situa- 
tions m which it is more generally seen. The hanks are 
highest adjacent to the river and here the trees are tallest, 
