4 o 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
[Vol. io, 
in origin. These occur in all parts of the continent, and in many regions, 
especially in the dryer areas, constitute the entire indigenous flora. Finally, 
there is a small infusion of temperate genera, such as Viola and Ranunculus, 
and several genera which are identical with those of the colder regions of 
Chile and Patagonia. This latter “Fuegian” element is best developed in 
Tasmania, but also forms an alpine flora in the highest mountains of New 
South Wales and Queensland. 
An enumeration in 1914 1 of the vascular plants of Australia gave a 
total number of 10,673 species, which presumably has been considerably 
added to since that time. According to Mueller, over eighty percent of 
the species are endemic. 
Queensland 
Soon after landing in Sydney, July 26, I proceeded by train to Brisbane, 
the capital of Queensland, whence I continued my journey by steamer to 
Cairns, in northern Queensland. This little town, in south latitude 17 0 , 
was the northernmost point reached. 
The conditions in Cairns are genuinely tropical. Being winter, it was 
not uncomfortably hot—indeed, after the chilly winds in Sydney and Bris¬ 
bane, the warm sun was very comforting. 
Sailing north from Brisbane, the steamer is within the Great Barrier 
reef, but this was too far away to be visible. The northern Queensland 
coast is very rugged, the mountains rising in many places direct from the 
sea, and there are many picturesque mountainous islands fringing the coast. 
The southernmost islands and the coast are quite barren, or but scantily 
wooded, but along the wetter northern coast they are often densely covered 
with forest. In some places were pure stands of Araucaria Cunninghamii 
looking much like a northern pine forest. 
The country immediately about Cairns is flat and sandy. Extensive 
mangrove formations fringe much of the shore and extend up the shallow 
creeks which abound along the coast. There are several species of man¬ 
groves in Queensland, some, like the common Rhizophora mucronata , with 
stilt roots, while the widespread ‘‘white mangrove,” Avicennia officinalis, 
sends up myriads of slender pneumatophores from the roots buried in 
the mud. 
About Cairns the forest is rather open, and is in part composed of 
Eucalyptus, and partly of Ficus and other tropical types. A Pandanus was 
very abundant, as also were cycads; but, as the latter were not in flower 
or fruit, it was not possible to tell whether they were Macrozamias or 
species of Cycas. A conspicuous large shrub was Wormia alata, with glossy 
leaves and large yellow flowers. Wormia is a common member of the 
strand floras all over Indo-Malaya. In the low ground around the swampy 
areas which were encountered here and there, were a good many ferns. 
1 Maiden, J. H. Australian Vegetation, p. 166. Federal Handbook for Australia. 
Melbourne, 1914. 
