1 78 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
[Vol. io, 
and this region receives a fair amount of rain; but out of a total area of 
380,070 square miles in the state, over 300,000 receive less than ten inches 
of rain annually. 
The region about Adelaide, the principal city, seems to be a fertile one, 
and when I saw it, after the abundant rains of last year, the young crops of 
grain and hay and the flowering orchards in the Mount Lofty district gave 
promise of an excellent harvest. There was the typical Eucalyptus forest, 
with Acacias and Casuarinas as undergrowth, and in some districts stands 
of the cypress-like Callitris sp. 
Along the railway line were in many places masses of the European 
gorse and broom, which seemed to be throughly naturalized, and, as they 
were in full flower, they made a brilliant show. In this region, as elsewhere 
in Australia, a number of South African plants have become naturalized and 
in some cases are troublesome weeds. The “Cape weed,” Cryptostemma 
Calendulacea, covered several of the fields with a solid carpet of pale yellow 
flowers, and the bright yellow Oxalis cernua was extremely abundant in 
many places. Sometimes in low ground the common calla lily could be 
seen, and several of the showy Iridaceae of South Africa, Sparaxis, Watsonia, 
and Homeria, were seen apparently quite naturalized. The latter is said 
to be poisonous and is regarded as a pernicious weed. At one place, not 
far from Adelaide, the cardoon ( Cynara Cardunculus ) was very abundant, 
but it was not noted elsewhere. 
Adelaide is most attractively laid out, with a fine park along the river 
which traverses the town, and a good botanical garden. At the time of my 
visit, in September, the flowering deciduous trees and shrubs were at their 
best. Lilacs were in full bloom, and especially beautiful were the double 
flowered peaches—pink, white, or crimson, which were freely planted in the 
park and botanical gardens. Unusually large individuals of the Judas tree 
were also seen. 
Of evergreen trees I noted several fine specimens of the redwood and the 
Californian bay tree (Umbellularia) and a gigantic specimen of the Euro¬ 
pean Arbutus unedo. A remarkably fine specimen of Araucaria imbri- 
cata was a feature of the garden. I was much interested in an extensive 
collection of South African Iridaceae: Ixia, Sparaxis, Tritonia, and Freesia. 
The Cape bulbs, as might be expected, do remarkably well in Australia and 
Northern New Zealand. In the United States, except in the warmer parts 
of the Pacific Coast, these beautiful plants must be grown under glass. 
Western Australia 
Western Australia, from the scenic standpoint, is much inferior to the 
eastern coastal regions of Australia, as it is largely an extremely arid region 
and the mountains are low and not at all striking in appearance. The ex¬ 
treme southwest corner, however, has a fairly abundant rainfall, and the 
coastal portions of this area support a heavy growth of giant eucalypts. 
