184 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
[Vol. 10 » 
district; but now most of the fine karri timber has been cut or killed, and 
only a few remnants of the great forest are left in this district. This region 
has a rainfall of approximately 60 inches, and the Western Australian forest 
reached its maximum development here. 
Our means of transport was a motor railway “trolley,” a small open 
car that was just sufficient to hold the three of us in addition to the driver. 
It was a decidedly novel experience and rather alarming at first, but we soon 
grew used to the motion and could enjoy the many interesting plants grow¬ 
ing along the route. The track was often bordered with shrubs covered 
with beautiful flowers of all colors, and in many places were veritable forests 
of grass trees in full flower. In addition to the Xanthorrhoeas, there were 
also many specimens of the peculiarly West Australian Kingia, much like 
Xanthorrhoea in habit, but having small globular inflorescences on short 
stalks, looking like drum-sticks. The grass trees reach their greatest de¬ 
velopment in this region. They often branch, and the tall flower spikes, 
eight or ten feet high, stand out conspicuously above the crown of slender, 
drooping leaves. 
The scenery in the vicinity of the karri forests is attractive. Owing 
to the abundant rainfall, there are clear streams of considerable size and 
rich and varied vegetation. Near the river banks grow the largest of the 
Banksias, B. verticillata , a tree 60 or 70 feet in height, with a trunk two 
feet thick. 
The abundance of Loranthaceae throughout Australia has already been 
mentioned, but the most extraordinary member of the family is confined 
to Western Australia. This is Nuytsia floribunda, known in some districts 
as “Christmas tree” as it flowers at Christmas time; from all accounts it 
must be a most magificent sight. I saw many individuals, but none in 
flower. It is a small tree, a root parasite, and when in flower is said to be 
completely covered with a mass of orange-red flowers. 
Western Australia is peculiarly interesting to the botanist, as the flora 
is almost exclusively made up of the strictly Australian types. The Ma¬ 
layan elements, which are so conspicuous in the forests of Queensland and 
New South Wales, are almost completely absent from Western Australia. 
The flora is also notably poor in ferns and bryophytes, few of which find 
a congenial home in this region with its poor, sandy soils and long, hot, dry 
summers. 
Fortunately for the botanist, the region about Albany is not well adapted 
to agriculture and is likely to remain for a long time a happy hunting ground 
for the flower lover. 
The autochthonous Australian flora reaches its extreme development 
in Western Australia, and there is an almost complete absence of any forms 
related to either the Malayan flora of Queensland and New South Wales, or 
the Fuegian element developed in Tasmania and the higher mountains of 
Eastern Australia. 
