52 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
[Vol. io. 
Banksias, some of which were small trees, and the lower-growing species of 
Grevillea, some with pretty pink flowers; Hakea, Persoonia, and Isopogon; 
Lambertia formosa , with brilliant scarlet flowers, was perhaps the finest of 
the Proteaceae. Yellow-flowered Hibbertias were very common, and other 
distinctly Australian types were Tetratheca (Tremandraceae), Dampiera 
(Goodeniaceae), and Comesperma, a very beautiful blue twiner belonging to 
the Polygalaceae. Various Papilionaceae, mostly species with showy yellow 
or red and yellow flowers, were very abundant, and played an important 
role in the gorgeous flower show. 
Another most interesting trip was made by motor with Professor A. A. 
Lawson, of the University of Sydney, an old associate of the writer, to the 
National Park, one of the finest pieces of scenery in Australia. Much of 
the country between Sydney and the park is of the same character as that 
just described, and there were very beautiful displays of flowers in great 
variety. At one place, however, along the rocky banks of a stream, very 
different vegetation was encountered. On the dripping rocks were masses 
of liverworts and sundews, while in the sheltered nooks we found the 
interesting fern Todea barbara and the still more interesting Tmesipteris, 
whose life history was first made known through Professor Lawson’s care¬ 
ful investigations. 
The drive through the Bulli Pass took one back to tropical Queensland. 
The road was shaded by huge trees, covered with creepers, and masses of 
splendid tree ferns and tall palms (A rchontophoenix Cunninghamii and 
Livistona australis ), gave a most tropical appearance to the landscape. 
The coast here is very picturesque, with sheer cliffs falling to the more 
level land at the shore, and from the top of the cliffs one can see the bold 
shore line with headland behind headland* in both directions, and the 
curved sweep of long beaches at their feet. 
The return to Sydney through the National Park followed for several 
miles the gorge of a stream, and the luxuriant forest vegetation was much 
like that of the Bulli Pass. The forest was a mixed one; some of the 
eucalypts (probably E. pilularis) were enormous, and the closely related 
Angophora sp. was not uncommon. Eugenia sp. and some others were of 
the true rain-forest type. Tree ferns and fan palms were abundant. 
Of the flowers noted on this excursion, two stand out preeminently. 
One was a mass of the giant torch lily, Doryanthes excelsa, a plant related 
to our Agaves. From the cluster of broad leaves, five or six feet high, 
rises a stout scape, ten or fifteen feet high, bearing at the top a huge 
cluster of great scarlet lily-like flowers, surrounded by large red bracts. 
The other was a colony of the beautiful orchid, Dendrobium speciosum , 
growing on a rock ledge, and in fullest bloom. 
One of the most interesting districts, botanically, in New South Wales 
is that of the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney. The Blue Mountains 
form the edge of the elevated plateau which slopes westward to the plains 
