BOTANICAL NOTES 
By L. RODWAY. C.M G. 
The entire district of I’ort Arthur, 
with its beautifiii inlets and jicrfect 
cove.s, is an ideal collecting ground for 
the l)Otanist. Our time is short ami 
the ways long, so we must he satisfied 
with what we may tlmi al)out the cami> 
at Safety Cove- FirsH.v. the ecology of 
the vegetati.n, that i.s. how do the 
plants respond to their .surroundings. 
The conditions on the who'e are slm- 
tde. A great i.urt is wet heath and 
•sour peat, dt.e to consider;.! le rainfall, 
and iioor drainage. I.e. timinous slirulis, 
epacrids and sedge, i lanls whicii caii 
still live m water contain tg .a consider- 
ahle amount of humic acid, were pro¬ 
minent. while wherever channels over 
rocks permitted pure water to pass 
there surel.v odd eticalyids cstaljlislied 
t hemselvcs. 
Kucalypts 'verc mainly peppermints 
!ind white gum.s, Imt towards the en¬ 
trance to the port a most interesting 
form, .sometimes called lilue i)eri)pr- 
num also cabbage gum. occurs. It is 
closely related to Risdon gum, but not 
quite the .same, and was oime named 
Eucalyptus hypericifolia, by Itobert 
Brown. The Ri.sdon gur and Its vari¬ 
ations require a lot of attention before 
we shall fully understand it. It is a 
great pity that we have very few popu 
lar names for our wild plant ■. tind tho.sp 
we have are responsible for much con¬ 
fusion. The .s;ime name is often a'l- 
plied to scverad distinct jilant.s. Eor in¬ 
stance. dogwood, currant, pear, or, on 
the other hand, sitveral names apitly to 
I he .same plant. In Victoria a com¬ 
plete list of popuUir rames for native 
plants has been construct.d. If this list 
is consi.stenl ly n.se<i in our stdiools it 
will take little more than a generation 
to get the .scheme in full working order. 
Would it not be wise of us to adopt the 
Victorian list, and add our .special forms 
to it? 
Tile ton.gue of lami that .stretches out 
froiii tile western ride of the entrance 
of the )>ort, bears wo very interesting 
forms of heath. Epacris heteronetna, 
whith occurs onl.v towards the wet 
west, and crops up again in V'icloria, 
N'ew .South Wales, and New Zealand, 
and Epacris myrtifolia, a rare Tas- 
maniJii heath, originally described and 
figured b.v Labillardiero. 
The pretty iiink boronla, B. pinnata, 
was fairly common. it is intcre.sting 
lliat when the plant grows at a consid¬ 
erable altitude, say roOO feet or up- 
ward.s, it develops in its leaves a qu.an- 
tity of oil of citroupi. This occurs but 
slightly when growing on low lands. 
.\mong!:t the acacl; s the only unusual 
one was Aci . suaveolens, which was 
just opening its llowers. This wattle 
can always be recognised by its angular 
.'-ter.i and its late flowering period. 
A GROUP AT CARNARVON. 
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