327 
Propagation. To those who wish to encourage the growth of our native trees, 
I would recommend this one, amongst others. It likes good soil and a sheltered 
situation, and it takes up a good deal of room if allowed to grow to its full size. It will 
help to give ua a little variety from the everlasting Pepper-tree, Camphor, Lophostemon 
(Tristania), and Pinus insignis. Any good nurseryman will get it for you; if not this 
season, next. I would like to make a remark about the demand for Australian plants. 
Some people think they have only to turn up the census of Australian plants (with its 
thousands of species), pick out any name, and require the nurseryman to supply it at 
once. This is unreasonable, for very few Australian plants, whether trees or shrubs, 
are in such demand that a nurseryman can safely propagate a number of them. We 
cannot expect all the enterprise to be on his side, and I would suggest that if the increasing 
number of amateurs who like to have some Australian plants in their gardens would 
make known their wants (in the case of species not in regular cultivation) at least one 
season in advance, they would find that if cuttings or seeds were to be obtained the 
nurseryman would obtain them. I throw this out as a practical suggestion. As a 
rule, I know that oiir nurserymen are only too anxious to foster a taste for the 
cultivation of native plants, but the difficulty of regulating demand and supply is, in 
this case, very great. The horticulturist will be pleased by observing the habit and 
inflorescence of plants whose capabilities for horticultural development are untested, 
and the botanist will be able to study the flowers, fruit, and foliage of plants which are 
usually only available in a dried and flattened-out shape in the boxes of a fusty 
herbarium. Small and big, I have getting on for a couple of hundred species of 
Australian plants under cultivation in my private property (this was written in 1891) ; 
so I practise what I preach, and I can testify to the pleasure one gets out of the 
pursuit. Of course, the satisfaction is the greater if one collects oneself the seeds 
and cuttings of the native plants and propagates them. 
This tree often has huge buttresses, but this applies only to trees of- great age. 
EXPLANATION OP PLATE 255. 
A. Flowering twig. Botanic Gardens. 
B. Bud. 
c. Flower. 
p. Corolla torn away, showing (a) monadclphous stamens, (&) styte, 
E. Anthers. 
E. Winged fruits. 
ILLUSTRATION. 
Photograph of a tree in the Botanic Gardens, Sydney, by the Government 
Printer, March, 1908. 
