1 Aprin, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 287 
dull yellow flowers laden with pollen, the bees will have a rare time; and even 
when the flowers drop off and litter the ground, the industrious little insects 
will descend and cover themselves with the pollen. Hasanyone of the readers of 
these Notes observed that the nectar of some flowers makes bees irritable and 
yery much inclined to sting? There is a creeper (the location of which will be 
indicated presently) called Antigonon leptopus. Bees working at this plant 
haye, on several occasions, stung the writer when they have been disturbed, 
although he has often disturbed bees on other plants with impunity. 
You notice the gleam of scarlet to the right of the palm just mentioned? 
That comes from the Queensland “Tulip Tree” or “Fire Tree,” the latter 
being the most appropriate name. It can claim to be one of the most beautiful 
and singular flowering trees in the world. The stalks bearing the flowers 
spring directly from the branches, often from the main branches. rom each 
main stalk branch five or six secondary ones, and on each secondary is an 
umbel or whorl, like a brilliant crown, consisting of about sixteen flowers. 
These are situate on short pedicels or stalks which radiate like the spokes of 
awheel; and from these, the flowers turn up at right angles. Hach of the 
segments or divisions of the coloured envelope of the flower (perianth) has 
a curious spoon-shaped end which contains the anther of the flower; and when 
these fall away, certain black glands around the base of what will presently 
become the seed-vessel only add to the beauty of the flower. The student of 
botany, or indeed any lover of plant-life, will be amply repaid by a study of 
this curious flower in its several phases. - 
Some years ago there was a controversy as to a suitable national flower 
for Queensland. The Fire Tree (Stenocarpus sinuatus) might be very appro- 
priately accorded this honour. : 
Carrying the eye to the left, we are surprised at the immense varieties of 
shades of green, and the management of these is no small matter in the creation 
of that picture on a large scale called a garden. Below the Sugar Palm, and 
nearer to us, there is alarge clump of Sérelitzias. To the left is a fine date 
palm with clusters of orange-coloured fruit, easily distinguishable from here, 
showing well against the grey foliage. A gaunt dead Arenga, with fern- 
clustered stem, stands out in contrast with the greyish-green of a tree of 
Thuya pendula which stands behind. Close by is the ponderous sombre-hued 
and formal-looking renela robusta (or Cypress Pine), of which we shall have 
more to say anon. ‘Two gaunt silky oaks raise their jagged tops to the 
sky-line, and stand sentinels over a group of Sérelitzias, ot three species, and 
Pandanus. . 
Then we catch a view of the green slope of the hill with bright beds of 
Crotons, masses of shrubs, amongst which stands out just now Allamanda 
Schottii—thousands of yellow flowers amongst the dark glossy foliage seeming 
from this like primroses dotting a grassy bank. The blue Plumbago capensis 
also stands out conspicuously. On the slope is seen the white bole of a Royal 
Palm (Oreodowa regia), planted eight years ago when only 10 inches high, and 
now over 20 feet high, and 8 feet 2 inches in circumference at the base. 
Beyond, are the tall Bunyas, worn out by their forty years of struggle against 
adverse, because unnatural, conditions; a British Oak standing alone beyond 
the roof of the aviary, and thriving as sturdily as the British race beneath 
these sunny skies; and through the many greens of the foliage gleam the grey 
cliffs of Kangaroo Point. 
Carrying the eye still to the left past the cool aisles of bamboo surround- 
ing the fern island (not shown in the illustration), we note two plants which 
will bear mention. One is the very beautiful creeper which I have before 
referred toas making beeswhich visit it irritable. It covers the top of a summer- 
house, and seen from here is a beautiful pink patch amongst the many tints 
of green. The other is the Traveller's Tree of Madagascar, which holds up 
its broad flat leaves like a fan and always forms a very conspicuous object.in 
the landscape. You remember the stories you read as a child of these trees 
storing up the moisture and saving the life of the weary trayeller in the 
