CONTKIBUTIONES FLORAE AuSTRALIAE OcCIDENTALIS XII. 
75 
3 .- CONTKIBUTIONES FLORAE AUSTRALIAE 
OCCTOENTALIS XII. 
By 
Charles Austin Gardner. 
Roa,d llth June, 1040. 
IXTRODUCTION. 
Amongst t])o largo mimhc'r of iindc'scrllx'd spoeios solootod from the 
material \vorkod over during the f)ast year, t lirt'o of unusual iutorost have been 
selected for early publication. In September, !045. whilst engaged on a 
survey of plants for exarnmation for their economic possibilities as jiotential 
sources of drug materials, two interesting fisammo|)hytes growing in the 
sandy flat of the ^fortloek River <*am(‘ to notice. A .search for fruiting material 
was suhso(piently made in October. December and January, Init without 
success, only one i‘i]ie and partially damaged fruit being found unattached 
below one of the plants, but snfticient is noAV known to [)lace tlu!se plants 
in the family Clienopodiaeeae, although th<’y seem to be anomalous in this 
family. The solitary flowers, strictly unisexual and dioecious, the homomor- 
phic perianth, and the absence of bracteolt'S, together with tlie stamens 
isomerous witli and opposite' to tlie perianth-.segmeuts, and the three-partite 
styles, make tlieso plants (jiiite distinct from anything hitherto described, 
and show a centain affinity to th*' Caryophyilaceae, although the position of 
tJie stamt'ns and tlie nature of the styles is t'ntirely that of Cluaiopodiaceae. 
Remarkable too is tlie the difCewenice in the phyllotaxis of the two species, — 
in one closely spirally imbricate leaves ; in tli<* otlier opposite tt'aves or the 
leave.s in oppositf' Fascick's, with elongated inti‘rnodos and spinescent- branches. 
The former lias tlie habit, of some siieeies of PijcnopinjUuni (C'irryopbyllaceao) ; 
the latter is reminiscent of Bhauoflid (('heiiopodiacoae)- This gt'mis I have 
named Hoycert^ after my eompanion of these Iravtls. who first noticed R. 
pycnophijlloides liy reason of its briglit orange-red antiKTs protriuling from the 
sand-covered tufts of tlie plant. The second siiecies was discovered Avhile 
searching for fruits of the first. Until ri[>e fruits have been found, it would be 
unwise to assign this now and interesting gtmus to any ])articular s('etioii of the 
family. 
The second genus is of exceiitional inter(*st. from the [loint of view of plant- 
geograpliy, since it forms another link betw<‘eu the American and Australian 
(^outinf'nts. 
In March. 1944, Mr. F. D. Hamilton, the District Forester at Mundaring, a 
townsliii) less than thirty miles from Perth, brought me a branch of Davlesin 
perfinala from which protruded the flowers of a species of Piloslyles, of the 
Section KuplhsiyJes. TJie occurrence of this genus in South Western Australia 
is of more than passing interest ; not only is it the first record of anj^ of the 
15500/2/48—750. 
