Among cannibals; an account of four years' travels in Australia and of camp life with the aborigines of Queensland; . er of species offlowering plants and ferns known toinhabit the country at the end of1888 was 8909, belonging to 1394genera and 149 natural orders. These are large numbers, but,what is more remarkable, somethinglike 7700 of these species are endemic,LEAVES, FLOWERS, AND FRUIT OF or pccullar to Australia. The endemicEucalyptus amygdalina. element in a flora is nowhere in the world higher, if even so high, in solarge an area, as in Western Australia, where eighty-five,per cent oft
Among cannibals; an account of four years' travels in Australia and of camp life with the aborigines of Queensland; . er of species offlowering plants and ferns known toinhabit the country at the end of1888 was 8909, belonging to 1394genera and 149 natural orders. These are large numbers, but,what is more remarkable, somethinglike 7700 of these species are endemic,LEAVES, FLOWERS, AND FRUIT OF or pccullar to Australia. The endemicEucalyptus amygdalina. element in a flora is nowhere in the world higher, if even so high, in solarge an area, as in Western Australia, where eighty-five,per cent ofthe species are peculiar, and of the remaining fifteen per cent fewspecies extend beyond Australia. Several genera are very numerous in species, notably Acacia, ofwhich there are upwards of 300, and Eucalyptus, of which there are150 ; and Grevillea {Froteacece) is represented by 150, and Melaleuca{MyrtacecE) by 100 species. Foremost in utility and most prominent in the scenery all overAustralia are the species of Eucalyptus, locally named blue gum,green gum, iron-bark, stringy-bark, etc. etc. They vary in stature. Ill FLORA 371 from dwarf bushes to the tallest tree in the world, one species,E. amygdalina (p. 370), considerably overtopping the big trees{IVellingiofiid) of California. In some parts of Victoria there aregroves of this tree averaging upwards of 300 feet in height, andseveral, as recorded in Muellers useful Eucalyptographia, have beenfound to measure more than 400 feet, and the tallest of all 471 feet. In addition to being the largest and most durable timber of thecountry, the gum-trees yield a variety of useful products. Most ofthem exude a valuable gum resin ; the bark of others is employed intanning, and the oil of Eucalyptus is now extracted to the extent of2000 gallons annually in one factory. Several of them periodi-cally shed their barks in large sheets, after the manner of our planesand birches, but more thoroughly. The leaves, like those of manyother Austral
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectethnology, booksubjectnaturalhistory
