i /4 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
[Vol. io, 
As in the other large cities, ample provision has been made for parks, 
including an uncommonly attractive and interesting botanical garden. 
Close to the gardens and the adjacent park lands is the river Yarra, which 
flows through the city. From the river an ample supply of water for the 
gardens is available, and this, together with good soil, gives the gardens 
a great advantage over those of Sydney, and this shows especially in the 
fine stretches of lawn and the luxuriant growth of many deciduous trees and 
shrubs which do not thrive in Sydney. 
It is true that the colder winters of Melbourne are unfavorable to the 
growth of strictly tropical and many subtropical species; but this is counter¬ 
balanced by the much better growth of the plants of more temperate regions. 
Trees and shrubs from temperate America, Asia, and Europe do much 
better in Melbourne than in Sydney or Brisbane, and the same is true of 
the hardy bulbs and other spring flowers. 
In September and October the gardens were looking very beautiful. The 
early flowering trees and shrubs, especially the Japanese cherries, double¬ 
flowering peaches, Magnolias, and Judas tree, were unusually good and 
made a brilliant display. Camellias and Indian Azaleas were also very fine, 
although the latter were perhaps not quite so luxuriant as in Sydney. There 
were also some good Rhododendrons. Where they were sheltered, several 
species of tree ferns and palms grew very well. A particularly satisfactory 
effect was attained in one place, where, under the shelter of large trees, 
there was a fine plantation of tree ferns and palms which looked very tropical. 
The tree ferns comprised several species of Cyathea, Dicksonia, and Also- 
phila, the finest being A. excelsa from Norfolk Island. The palms included 
the two native species, Archontophoenix Cunninghamii and Livistona aus¬ 
tralis, and the New Zealand Rhopalostylis sapida. 
I was especially interested in an excellent collection of American trees, 
which seemed very much at home. These included very fine specimens of 
several oaks— Quercus alba, Q. rubra, Q. coccinea, and one or two others— 
Liquidambar, Taxodium, Robinia, Gleditschia, Acer rubrum, and Cornus 
florida. The latter was in flower, but the flowers were not abundant. 
A large and well-labeled collection of Australian plants, including many 
of the very showy West Australian flowers, is an important feature of the 
garden. Among the more striking of these were flowering specimens of the 
great torch lilies ( Doryanthes excelsa, D . Palmerstoni) and the beautiful scarlet 
gum, Eucalyptus ficifolia, from western Australia. 
Because of the limited time at my disposal, I was able to make only 
two botanical excursions while in Victoria. Owing to its smaller size and 
more uniform climate, Victoria has a much smaller proportion of peculiar 
species than the larger states, comparatively few species being confined to it. 
In the well-watered eastern sections there is a heavy forest, but only a 
small number of the Malayan types characteristic of the rain forests of 
Queensland and New South Wales extend into Victoria. In the extreme 
