Apr., 1923] 
CAMPBELL — AUSTRALASIAN BOTANICAL NOTES 
179 
The northern coast, with a tropical climate, has in some portions good 
summer rains; but for the most part Western Australia is a desert with an 
annual rainfall of less than ten inches. 
Nevertheless, Western Australia is in some respects the most interesting 
region to the botanist in Australia, as it is here that the autochthonous 
Australian flora is seen at its best. Nearly four thousand species have been 
described, and of these a large majority are confined to Western Australia 
and include many of the most beautiful and peculiar of the Australian 
plants. 
Diels 2 has written a very complete account of the flora of Western Aus¬ 
tralia, and in the introduction to this has given an excellent description of 
the most important botanical regions of Australia, with the more character¬ 
istic plants of each region. 
West Australia is very old geologically, and it is believed that it was here 
that most of the peculiar Australian types originated. There is evidence 
that it was formerly separated from the eastern part of the continent, and 
from it, after the union of the two regions, the autochthonous plants mi¬ 
grated east and north. 
Traveling westward by the transcontinental railway, which runs from 
Port Augusta, in South Australia, to Kalgoorlie, one obtains a good idea 
of the character of the country comprising much of the dry interior regions 
of Australia. The country was quite different in appearance from what 
I had anticipated. I had pictured the “desert” of the interior as a sandy 
waste, quite destitute of vegetation; but no such areas were seen, although 
they do occur in many parts of the central plains of Australia. 
Along the route of the trancontinental there is, for the most part, no 
lack of small trees and shrubs. One region known as the “ Nullarbor Plains ” 
has only low bushes of salt bush (Kochia, Atriplex) and similar shrubs, much 
like the sage brush of the Nevada desert; but except in this region there 
were many trees, sometimes almost abundant enough to be called a forest; 
and among these were many shrubs of varying size, with bunch grasses and 
various low-growing plants between. 
As usual, the predominant trees were Eucalyptus, and there were also 
shrubby species, known locally as “Mallee” ( E . oleosa , E. uncinata). Casu- 
arinas were also abundant, and Acacias were perhaps the commonest of the 
shrubs. As the latter were in full bloom, they made brilliant masses of gold 
in the dull gray-greens of the general vegetation. Other characteristic shrubs 
of this region are sandalwood (Santalum cygnorum), Myoporum sp., and 
“Quandong” (Fusanus acuminatus). 
In many places, grass was sufficiently abundant to indicate excellent 
grazing country, if only artesian water were available, as the country is 
quite destitute of any natural streams or springs. 
Aside from the Acacias and a few other shrubs, not many flowers were 
2 Die Vegetation der Erde 7. Leipzig, 1906. 
