366 QUEENSIAND AGRICULTURAL gouRNAL. — [1 Nov., 1897. 
This tree is a favourite for shade, but should never be planted in a garden, 
as its roots travel almost on the surface of the ground to surprising distances, 
and there is no mercy for the poor plant of less hardy growth into whose little 
plot these octopus roots come. You may manure as much as you like—the fig 
requires it all; you may cut off the roots, but, like the Hydra of Grecian legend, 
others spring up in the place of the one you sever. If planted too near 
houses, the roots insinuate themselves into drains, which they speedily choke. 
You may like to know how these trees establish themselves in the lofty 
forests where the seedlings would be smothered if they grew in the usual way. 
In the Fern Island (G. 9) there is a palm 50 feet high; and four years 
ago, a bird left a tiny fig-seed in a cranny in the top of the palm, and in due 
course a little seedling made its appearance. It was such a green, innocent 
little thing that no one would refuse it shelter, and it sent out rootlet after 
rootlet ; and now the advanced guard of these rootlets are within a foot of the 
ground, and will soon enter it. Then they will begin to thicken up and 
become quite woody, and the days of that palm will be numbered. It isa 
case of slow murder under cover of hospitality. There is another example— 
near the private entrance to Government House Grounds (J. 12). But here 
the insidious guest has been at work for nine years, and strong bands woven 
around the host (a wattle) are thickening fast and gripping cruelly. 
To the left as you enter, there stands a Silky Oak ( Grevillea robusta). It is 
not our best specimen, but it is in flower just now, and a very beautiful flower 
it is, and a very useful tree itis that bears it. Take a branch, and when you 
have admired the way in which all the bunches (racemes) of flowers spread out 
so as not to interfere with each other’s daylight, vou will find much to admire 
in the flowers themselves. See how they all develop from the base of the 
bunch upwards. At first there is just a little green tube with a knob on the 
top. Then the style, as it is called, begins to grow, and grows so.much faster 
than the rest of the flower, that presently the tube is broken near the bottom, 
but keeps a firm grip of the top of the style, which keeps on growing 
till it forms a loop which acts as a kind of spring to jerk up the style 
when the hold is relaxed. About this time, but not before, honey is secreted 
very freely, and bees’ come in crowds and jostle each other, and carry the 
pollen from one flower to another and so secure cross-fertilisation. It is most 
interesting to trace this development. Wemight have worse employment. You 
will note, too, that at the time when the Silky Oak is in flower, a large number 
of the birds called lJeatherheads invade the Gardens and make a cheerful 
medley of sound with their peculiar notes. Of the order to which this tree 
belongs, all noted for the curious arrangement of their floral parts, there are 
about 1,000 species, and they hark back to very ancient times too, as some have 
been found in a fossil state, in the tertiary deposits, co-eval with some of the 
extinct animals whose bones you will find in our Museum. The timber is: good 
for staves, and, being very prettily. marked, is very good for cabinet-work. It 
is very largely planted in India; indeed, it is a question if there are not many 
more silky-oak trees in India than there are in Queensland.* A gum which 
exudes from it is said to have a chemical reaction different from any gum at 
present known, and to be as useful for adhesive purposes-as gum arabic. 
Still in the same square (A. 12) stands a plant of a graceful Palm, Cocos 
plumosa. It is one of the hardiest and most free-growing of palms. Let us 
call it the Feather Palm. ‘There are about 1,100 distinct palms in the world, 
about one-fourth of the entire number of known species of plants of all sorts 
in Queensland, including grasses, mosses, ferns, and fungi. This Palm wiil 
grow in any garden, seeds freely, and can be easily raised in any quantity. 
Jt will grow anywhere in Brisbane, and it it were freely planted in suitable 
positions the city would soon have a beautiful and distinctive appearance, and 
might be known as the “ City of Palms.” Walk now straight along, passing 
several objects of interest on the way, till you come to where the ground 
* There are to-day more Silky Oaks standing in our gardens and streets than can be found in 
the yet standing scrubs.—Hd. @Q..A.J. 
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