1 Avea., 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 219 
ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIGENOUS PLANTS. 
(Read before the Queensland Horticultural Society.) 
By Tue Hon. A. NORTON, M.1L.C. 
The good people of Manly, near Sydney, some years ago conceived the 
happy idea of holding a show of native flowers; the suggestion was readily 
taken up by those who lived at this pleasant seaside resort, and eventuated in 
what has been described as a most successful exhibition. The popularity of 
this first effort led to an annual show, and each year the collection of native 
plants was larger and the arrangement more attractive, and many hundreds of 
visitors crowded the ferries from Sydney in order that they might be present 
at so novel an entertainment. Notwithstanding their success, however, these 
shows of native flowers led to much mischief, for, in their anxiety to secure 
specimens, ruthless collectors broke down the branches without regard to 
consequences, and, for many miles around, thousands of beautiful plants were 
destroyed. At Brisbane we have not attempted to get up a show of native 
flowers; all that has been done in that direction so far is the offering of a prize 
for the best collection of native flowers exhibited by children at our horticultural 
exhibitions; and the result has been worse than failure. Generally the 
miserable exhibits sent in are unworthy of acceptance, and certainly ought not 
to be awarded a prize; they teach nothing of the beauty and variety of the 
flora of the country, and the collections submitted for competition generally are 
assisted by the presence of lantana, adjuratum, or some other introduced plants 
which have no practical value. And yet we have many beautiful trees and 
flowering plants in Queensland ; many, indeed, within a moderate distance of 
the metropolis, which are worthy of a place in any garden ; not a few of these 
_are found in public and private gardens, but some which are strikingly beautiful 
are much too poorly represented. As an instance of this I might mention the 
flowering tree, Lagunaria Patersoni, of which there is one only, I believe, in 
our Botanical Gardens. It is one of the hibiscus family, and belongs to the 
natural order Malvacee. The individual tree referred to is about 25 feet or 
perhaps more in height, and in summer time every branch is covered with 
beautiful pink flowers. It is one of the ornamental trees I well remember as 
growing in my father’s garden near Sydney when I was a boy. Afterwards I 
gaw it in its full beauty in the scrubs on the banks of the Clarence River ; then 
in similar scrubs in Queensland. That these trees grow readily far away from 
their natural home is proved by the fact that dozens of them help to adorn the 
beautiful reserves around Adelaide in happy companionship with other Queens- 
land trees. The one specimen I have referred to is the only one I have seen 
in cultivation here, but in Adelaide they are properly appreciated. 
T desire, however, to specially call attention to the fact that many of our most 
beautiful native trees and smaller plants can be and are most successfully grown. 
when removed to and cared for in cultivated ground. Surely at a horticultural 
show a collection of flowers from these would be more attractive than the 
scratch collection of native and introduced weeds which we now give a prize 
for. By directing attention to them, too, their more general cultivation would 
be encouraged, and visitors from other countries would have an opportunity of 
seeing something of them without going out into the country for that purpose. 
Amongst other well-known native ornamental trees in our Brisbane gardens I 
might mention Stenocarpus sinuatus, sometimes known as tulip-tree ; Barklya 
syringtfolia, which before Christmas time is loaded with golden bloom; . Castano- 
spermum australe, more commonly known as Moreton Bay chestnut or bean-tree ; 
Grevillea robusta, the silky oak ; the crimson bell-flowered Sterculza, commonly 
called flame-tree To these may be added numerous others—cassias, acacias, 
hibiscus, &e. Hibiscus rhodopetalus grows readily in my own. garden In its 
natural state I had not seen this plant.south of the Burnett River until a few 
years ago I found a large patch in fine bloom a few miles out of Gympie. On 
