Jan., 1923I 
CAMPBELL-AUSTRALASIAN BOTANICAL NOTES 
49 
hamii. A. Bidwillii is common in cultivation, and fine specimens are 
growing in various parts of California. The tree is decidedly restricted in 
its range, being confined to a rather limited area in southern Queensland. 
The Bunya mountains have extensive forests of this species, but outside 
this area they occur only as scattered individuals. Some very fine specimens 
were seen in the Mapleton forest, their great smooth domes of foliage 
overtopping the other trees. As the trees grow old, the smaller twigs fall 
off from the base of the horizontal branches, leaving them quite bare for 
most of their length, and the leafy twigs form a bunch of foliage at the tip. 
These Araucarias were greatly prized by the aborigines for their large, 
edible seeds. 
Before returning to Brisbane, I stayed over night at Palmwoods, a 
station on the main railway line adjacent to a forest with fine groves of 
palms. These were practically all Archontophoenix Cunninghamii, and in 
the low, swampy ground formed pure stands of considerable extent. In the 
higher land, they were scattered among other trees. Perhaps no plant 
formation in Australia is more striking to the American botanist than these 
beautiful groves of tall, graceful palms. Few palms rival in beauty this 
species, with its smooth, slender trunk and crown of feathery foliage. 
Along the railway embankment, in places, were masses of Gleichenia 
linearis and Lycopodium cernuum , a very common association in many of 
the warmer parts of the world. A very pretty blue iris was noted ( Pater- 
sonia sp.), a very common genus in New South Wales and West Australia. 
The railway from Brisbane to Sydney ascends to about 2000 feet 100 
miles west of Brisbane, and then follows the table land southward. This 
table land includes the Darling Downs, a region of deep, rich, black soil, 
resembling the black “adobe” of California. 
The precipitation in this region is rather uncertain, but in years of good 
rainfall, like that of 1921, heavy yields of grain, hay, and fruits, as well as 
dairy products, make this one of the richest agricultural districts in Aus¬ 
tralia. The country is an open one with no heavy forest, and at the time 
of my visit, in early August, the luxuriant growth of young grain and 
alfalfa gave promise of a bountiful harvest. 
The Sydney end of the railway passes through a much less promising 
country and is practically at sea level. The soil is largely a poor, sandy 
one, and outcrops of rock are seen everywhere. There is the typical 
Eucalyptus forest, interspersed with golden-flowered wattles {Acacia spp.) 
and the characteristic Casuarinas and Melaleucas. Here and there, clumps 
of cycads (Macrozamia) were noted; and in a few places, where the soil was 
richer and moister, specimens of the Australian fan palm, Livistona australis , 
were seen. It was rather early for the showy flowers which abound in 
this region, but pretty pink Boronias were recognized, as well as a handsome 
trailing leguminous plant, with fine blue flowers (probably Hardenbergia). 
Many “grass trees” ( Xanthorrhoea sp.), another peculiar Australian type, 
were seen everywhere. 
