Brachysema daviesioides, Benth. 
A leafless, spiny, low shrub of the Natural Order, Legumi- 
nosae, from Coolgardie, hitherto recorded only once as having 
been found by James Drummond many years ago. From a 
short stem arise a number of branches which are repeatedly 
forked so as to form a dense thicket of thin but rigid branchlets 
ending in spiny points. The leaves are represented by very small 
scales, not visible to the naked eye, and the red flowers, each 
about one inch in length, are clustered round the lower part of 
the stem, where they are protected from injury, though small 
birds are able to reach up to them to suck their honey. (Plate 
III. Fig. i.) 
Calandrinia primuliflora, Diels. 
One of the Natural Order, Portulacaceae. The specimens 
from which this illustration was taken were found at Carnamah 
in gritty soil on the edge of an outcrop of granite, and in cracks 
and shallow places where pieces of the rock had split off. The 
tuberous root is not a true bulb, but a store of water, and pro- 
bably of nutritive material, without which it could not live in 
such a situation. One of the tubers is seen to be bent at a right 
angle, showing that at a depth of about an inch its growth down- 
wards had been checked by the rock and changed into a horizontal 
direction. The plant shows a wonderful capacity for enduring 
the intense heat of granite exposed to the sun in early summer. 
(Plate III., Fig. 2.) 
Lachnostachys verbascifolia , F. v. M. 
Natural Order, Verbenaceae. This plant, first found by 
Diummond, was brought from Yalgoo, Murchison district, and, 
like many others in the same family, shows a remarkable de- 
velopment of the hairy covering. With the exception of the 
inner parts of the flower, the whole plant is covered with a thick 
soft blanket-like clothing, composed of innumerable branch- 
ing hairs. (Plate IV Fig. 1.) 
Daviesia euphorbioides, Benth. 
This plant is usually set down as a Cactus by those who 
have seen it growing, from its likeness to the leafless Cacti of the 
hot and drv regions of America, of which country alone they 
are true natives. The specific name has been given on account 
of its resemblance to some forms of Euphorbiaceae, which are 
also leafless. Its true natuie is disclosed by the presence of a 
triangular pod attached to the stem, showing it to be a leguminous 
plant and one of the genus Daviesia, which is represented in 
Western Australia by many species, with or without leaves. 
While in Plagianthus Helmsii there are innumerable small leaves 
covering the thick stems, in this plant they are represented by 
